


Oh to see them one last time

by Mind_Boi



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Creeper Hybrid Sam | Awesamdude, Demon Darryl Noveschosch, Eret and Toby Smith | Tubbo are Siblings, Eret-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Eventual Happy Ending, Fox Hybrid Floris | Fundy, Ghost Wilbur Soot, Ghost Wilbur Soot Remembers, Goat Hybrid Toby Smith | Tubbo, Hybrid Wilbur Soot, Kidnapping, Murder, Piglin Hybrid Wilbur Soot, Raccoon Hybrid TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Resurrected Wilbur Soot, They/Them Pronouns for Eret (Video Blogging RPF), Trans Floris | Fundy, Trans Male Floris | Fundy, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, Wither Hybrid Eret (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mind_Boi/pseuds/Mind_Boi
Summary: The person that was behind Dream was now beside him, and dream could feel the anger radiating off of whoever it was. They spoke only three words."Fuck you, Dream."(Alternate title: Eret is done with dream's shit and decided to do something about it.)
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Eret (Video Blogging RPF), Eret & Floris | Fundy, Eret & Niki | Nihachu, Eret & Sam | Awesamdude, Eret & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Eret & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Eret & Wilbur Soot, Sam | Awesamdude & Wilbur Soot, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 50
Kudos: 368





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tw: Blood, Major Character death but they respawn, cursing, manipulation, weapons
> 
> Hi, this is my first post on the archive. If I missed a trigger please tell me and I'll do my best to edit it into the notes. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

Some people live for a long time. Long enough that they consider themselves immortal. They think that nothing can get to them and that their actions won't have repercussions. All it depends on is how long they can be successful in that.

×××

Dream looked out across the ruined remains of L'manburg with a triumphant look. It had taken so long, but the country was finally gone. They had all given up on keeping the nation alive and moved on from it. Everything was going accordingly. He was having fun. 

He heard the soft steps of someone coming behind him but Dream stayed still. He knew that he'd be fine. No one could hurt a god. Since, that's what he was. He knew that. He couldn't have survived for thousands of years and not be one. 

The person that was behind Dream was now beside him, and dream could feel the anger radiating off of whoever it was. They spoke only three words.

"Fuck you, Dream." 

Surprised, but not fazed, Dream responded trying his best to fill his words with sympathy, "I thought we talked about this Eret. Respect is the only thing still keeping you in power. Besides, you wouldn't want **them** to get hurt would you?"

Dream saw them out of the corner of his eye tense at his words. He continued knowing that with enough twisting to his words, they'd be back under his control. 

"What kind of sibling would you be if you let them get hurt? A shitty one, I know that. Tubbo would never forgive you. Knowing that you let him get hurt again. I can't think of any way to redeem yourself from that. If you just go back to the castle and all can be forgiven. I might even forget that this happened at all."

"No. I'm done. You're a shit person. I'm not even sure I can consider you a person anymore." Eret replied, fury evident in his tone. 

Dream turned to Eret with an amused smile. The king was very clearly pissed and instead of wearing his crown she was holding it at her side. They were wearing full Netherite armor and glistening with enchantments. Instead of his formal attire underneath the armor it was back to his old clothing. 

"Are sure about this Eret? D'you know how many people you could hurt by doing this? Think about Alyassa. No one's seen her in months, Wasn't it your job as king to find her? You haven't been able to find her but you still can. Think about what you're doing Eret. Is it because of an emotional reaction? Remember it's duty over self Eret." 

Dream laced his words with sympathy, taking pride in the slow change in The king's face from anger to hesitation as he spoke. He knew eret took his job as king seriously. Then, the anger snapped back on their face. He watched as the golden crown turned to dust right in front of him. 

Dreams thoughts started racing and turning incoherent. A momentary feeling of panic was sent through his body. Was eret a hybrid of some sort? If so, how did he not know? You can't hide that type of thing very easily. Maybe the glasses hid something? Wait- they could kill him with a single touch. That would definitely classify as a life in the world he had created. They could kill him, the unkillable. 

Unintentionally, Dream took a step back. Eret seemed to notice this and a grin formed on their face. They seemed to enjoy the fact that he was showing fear. Dream had a look of panic behind his mask and he pulled out his Netherite Axe from his Inventory and quickly moved his armor to the correct slots in preparation. He was grateful that he decided to make a mask his trademark item. It concealed his emotions. And, He was scared. He didn't want to admit it but he was genuinely scared. 

Dream felt his heart racing, even though he had defeated Technoblade in a duel before he created this world. This was different; he knew what techno could do. He had no idea what tricks Eret could have up their sleeve; actually he had never even seen the other in a full on fight. He had no clue of his skill level. The other took a step forward and took out their Axe. They both stood at a stand still before Dream swung, aiming for Erets neck. Eret blocked it with his axe and grabbed Dreams axe. 

Dream looked on in horror as the weapon in his hand fell to the ground as dust. He frantically looked in his Inventory for anything else while scrambling back from the ~~past~~ king. _His crossbow._ That could work. He grabbed it out and loaded one of the bolts aiming it at Eret. Eret was just slowly walking towards dream. Like a lion stalking its prey.

~~Like Dream had done to Tommy, when he was exiled.~~

Shakily Dream released the trigger. The bolt grazed their cheek, and blood started to drip out of the wound slowly. 

Dream backed up in fear and absolute panic as the other continued to walk forward not flinching at all. He took another step back and bumped into something. He turned his head and froze. _The l'mantree._ Niki burned it, didn't she? He was almost positive she had. The last thing from the original war had been destroyed, but he was looking right at it. Remembering what was at stake, his life, he turned back to Eret being a foot and a half away from him. They raised their Axe to dream's neck, which was probably only 2 centimeters away from cutting into his flesh. Dream froze, swallowing thickly. 

"Hey, Eret. We can talk about this." Dream said, failing to keep his nervous tone out of his voice. 

"What are you feeling, Dream? Is it panic? Is it fear? Are being struck with the realization that you are not immortal? That you can die here? In the world you created to control pawns for fun. Do you feel any sympathy for them? Do you regret doing any of this? How does it feel to be genuinely scared? Dream." There was no remorse in Erets voice, only anger and pain. 

By the end of Erets speech, Dream knew what was about to happen. He was going to die. Lose a life, those were supposed to keep the others on the server in check. Not himself, he didn't do it to keep himself in check. He didn't need to. In one last desperate attempt he said "I can bring Wilbur back." 

"I know. You caused his death. You realize with the way you set up this server that yeah he can come back here as a ghost but in the main hub? He's still alive. He can tell everyone, but hasn't because you threatened his family. You think you can threaten everyone in this hellhole you've created. You think you can threaten my family. Tubbo isn't my blood brother, but that doesn't make him any less of my family. 

"And, I know for a fact that the book with how to get Wilbur back on this server is in your inventory. You are going to give it to me, or I will take it from your dead body." Eret soundly deadly calm now despite only a few seconds ago being seething. 

Dream reached into his Inventory and took out the book, handing it to Eret. He was now absolutely sure that the charade was up. He was screwed. He knew that Eret didn't want Wilbur back to be stuck in the server, but for more people against Dream. With their free hand they opened it, making sure it was the right book most likely. After a few seconds he felt Erets axe sink into his neck. 

Eyes wide he fell to the ground choking on his own blood. Dreams vision was fading, he felt his mouth filling with ruby red blood. He took out the axe and clutched his neck desperately trying to stop the bleeding. The feeling of the thick liquid made him want to throw up. He then grabbed his mask yanking it off as if that would help. The mask was now coated in blood from his hands. The last thing he saw before he shot up in his bed was the cold eyes of Eret, unforgiving and holding no sympathy for him. 

xxx

Eret was silent.

They had done it. 

They had the book.

This had to be what would redeem them. 

They could get them all out. 

They watched Dream's body go up in smoke leaving behind the blood coated mask he had ripped off. Eret wondered if they were the first person to see what Dream truly looked like. He had seen Green eyes filled with panic, fear, and desperation. The manipulator's eyes had also had something else in them that Eret couldn't recognize. 

They were brought back from their thoughts by their communicator buzzing with messages. They opened the main chat and looked. 

**Dream** was Slain By **The_Eret**

**Georgenotfound** : Oh my god

**Tommyinnit** : HOLY SHIT

**Skeppy** : I like what this is implying

**Badboyhalo** : Language

**Tommyinnit** : fuck

They closed chat and the sinking realization of what they just did caught up. 

They just killed a man. 

Not only that they killed the supposed Unkillable.

But, they had proved he was as killable as the rest of them. That Dream was mortal. 

Months ago it didn't seem possible, but they knew exactly what they just did. They gave everyone hope. Hope that they all might get out of this god forsaken server. They could all see old friends and family again. They knew Fundy had been waiting since they all got here to leave and see 5up again.

They could clear up the mystery around the DreamSMP, if Wilbur hadn't already. He said he hadn't. Ghostbur knew a lot more than he let on. Maybe, Schlatt did it. Not sure how the main hub would've reacted to that first person other than Dream leaving the server in; they honestly didn't know how long they had all been stuck there. They could all do a lot of things after they got out of here. Eret themself had been missing their friend, a sheep hybrid named Puffy.

They could get Dreams admin powers revoked. He'd be officially stripped of his admin powers when they explained everything that happened. His abuse of power. Eret sat down at the base of the L'mantree and gingerly picked up dreams mask. The admin probably had another but they had one in their hands no less. They wanted to watch it crumble. 

They let the urge go and the mask crumbled in their hands. The urge to blow something up now that he wasn't lost in his thoughts was there. Just like it always was. They could ignore it. Ignoring things was also fairly normal for them. They opened chat again. There were many messages from the main chat and several whispers. He opened tubbos. 

_**Tubbo** : where are you?  
Eret please respond_

They began to type.

_**The_Eret** : I'm at the lmantree  
Disintegrated that fuckers mask  
He pisses me off  
_

They closed chat and waited for Tubbo to show up. They knew he would. Ignoring the buzzing of the communicator they closed their eyes and pushed down the urge to blow something up or even disintegrate something. One of the problems with being a wither hybrid. The overwhelming urge to do that type of stuff. They could call it what it was, the wither effect, but to them it had always been disintegration. They never knew why and honestly they didn't care. It was hard to hide some of their hybrid traits though. Most they could conceal by pushing it away mentally, like they were willing the traits to leave; but their eyes refused to go. 

Opening their eyes Eret let their wither traits show and they studied the now clawed black tips of their fingers. They hadn't shown their hybrid status at all in this server fearing for their life. They knew that there were now dark grey and black colored freckles dotted around their body. It was surreal seeing it after so long. If it wasn't for that urge, that itch they knew they would have forgotten they were even a hybrid awhile ago. They didn't have the need to hide the traits, as almost everyone on the server was a hybrid. Maybe, it was the fact that they were a dangerous and rare hybrid and when they first joined they decided it was for the better. 

Eret glanced over at their axe. There was a lot of blood on it. It was Dream's blood. Proof that he had died if no one believed him. They felt like they should clean it up but they didn't. Just staying put their mind giving no thoughts other than, Holy shit, I just killed Dream, over and over. 

They didn't know how long it had been before they heard footsteps, and their head shot up scanning for the other person. Tubbo burst from the bushes standing at most 10 feet away. He stared at eret, then the axe, and finally the pile of dust next to him. 

"Eret?" Tubbos voice broke the silence. 

Eret was silent for a count of 3 before saying "I killed him. He can die. He's not a god. We might get out of here."

Eret then got up and looked at the kid he hadn't seen in weeks. Tubbo was wearing a brown parka with white fur lining the hood and most likely the inside. The rest of his clothes were suited for colder weather too. Considering that Tubbo named his Village area Snowchester, they weren't sure what else they were expecting. Tubbo looked at their sunglasses. They could see that he had hope in his eyes. Something they hadn't seen in awhile. 

Eret noticed that his horns were scuffed and had chips in them. "How long have your horns been in a state like that, Tubbo?" 

Eret watched tubbos hand trail to his horns and say, "awhile. The claws are new."

They looked down at their hands and shrugged, "No, not really but it's a feature I can hide without doing the whole sunglasses type of thing." 

They both stood still for who knows how long. Eret guessed that it was probably only 30 seconds but it felt like so much longer. They walked towards tubbo saying "Let's get out of here." 

The other stayed still and asked 2 questions, "What happened to your crown? And, are you just going to leave the axe there?"

Eret glanced behind him at the axe contemplating what to do with it, before grabbing it and placing it in their inventory. They didn't feel like answering the other question. They'd answer it when they got to Snowchester. Tubbo walked with them and showed them the way to Snowchester. Since, they had never been. 

After a few minutes of walking, Tubbo broke the silence, "You didn't answer my first question." 

Eret stayed quiet before realizing that tubbo was going to find out one way or another and answered, "It's dust now. Dream can find a new King if he really wants one. I'm done." 

"I don't know if you realized what you did, but," Tubbo said trudging up a hill, "you gave us hope. When I saw Tommy before I left to find you he was going to go get back in contact with Big Q, and his gang and start planning things. A plan that could get us out of here. He's just one man, right? A man who thought he was immortal." 

Tubbo stopped in front of them and turned, "And, today, you proved that he's killable. That we can kill him. We knew we could hurt him, but not kill. It's- it's ju- how do I describe it?" Tubbos paused for a couple seconds before continuing, "It's like what it felt like when we won the first skirmish in the L'manburg war. Really happy, and full of hope." 

Erets eyes were filled with tears, their brother trusted them again. They were at the very least forgiven in Tubbos eyes, and from the sound of it possibly Tommy's too. They tried not to cry but a tear escaped and fell down their face. "The word you're looking for is ecstatic, I think. I never meant to hurt you guys then or any time in the past, I swear." They whispered quietly. 

Tubbo looked at them quizzically before continuing to lead them to Snowchester. It started getting colder and soon they saw a few cabins in the distance. They didn't know that it was this close to the ruins of L'manburg, but then they remembered that both Tommy and Tubbo lived here. It made sense for them to be this close. They were both really attached to the place. Though originally they had just assumed Tubbo had gotten there quickly because of Nether travel. 

"Well this is the main cabin." Tubbo said, stopping at the biggest building there and walking in. Eret followed him in and was met with the eyes of one Tommyinnit staring directly at them. And, on his head was something that was definitely not there the last Eret had seen him. 

Furry raccoon like ears.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would be satisfying as hell to see it go. 
> 
> Eret walked over and stood a few meters in front of it. 
> 
> Oh yeah, they were going to enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: I can't think of any it's a chill chapter before stuff happens in the next, swearing
> 
> I think I did it right, but you should see 2/? Chapters. I'm figuring out.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy Eret and Tommy kinda bonding.

Eret was unsure of how to react to this in all honesty. The kid they had thought wasn't a hybrid was a hybrid after all. Of course they didn't have much room to talk, since they had hid their hybrid status as well. But, this was something you could easily hide, unless it was new and Tommy didn't know before either. They didn't recognize what type of hybrid tommy was, but they were sure they'd figure out soon. 

"Hello Tommy." Eret said, attempting to start a conversation. 

"Hey. Welcome to Snowchester I guess. Don't touch my stuff. Anyways So Tubbo-" Tommy after that turned to Tubbo started relaying what he had heard from Quackity to tubbo. 

Eret just stood there confused as to what to do. They had just gotten there. They didn't know if Tommy trusted them yet but he wasn't doing his usual thing of saying they couldn't trust them, and that they were a traitor. Despite every attempt to redeem themself. So, that was a good sign. Maybe, Tommy finally trusted them again, at least a little. 

Running over what they would need to do, they decided they needed to get to their castle and grab some warmer clothing, and supplies they had stockpiled. They also probably needed to reset their spawn point, so they didn't respawn in the castle. Of course if they could even get into the Castle. Dream had to be on guard or at least stationed Guards. He knew of Erets hybrid status and knew to be much more careful now. 

Oh, right the book. They should probably mention that some time today. 

"Okay, Eret. You are not gonna survive here with those clothes. No offense." Tubbo said, turning his attention to Eret. 

They let out a small laugh and said "none taken. I have some clothes at the castle for this weather that I can go grab, along with some resources I've been saving. I would like to reset my spawn point real quick though." They were holding a conversation like they would when they were at war. Eret guessed they were back at war with Dream now. His death being the catalyst, this time. Not Wilbur wanting to sell Drugs legally.

Tubbo pointed towards a bed in the corner and explained "It's the bed we first used when we got here and we just left it there."

Eret nodded and went over to set their spawn point. All it took was a tap of the bed frame. They had always liked how simple it was. They walked back over, the building was smaller on the inside than it looked like on the outside. 

"Okay, so everyone knows what they're gonna do in the next couple hours or so?" Tubbo clarified pointing his hands at both Eret and Tommy. 

"Yep, Big man. I'm gonna go with Eret on my way to the rendezvous with Big Q." Tommy said ears twitching ever so slightly. 

"Cool, Well see you two later." Tubbo disappeared down the ladder to the basement. 

The two started walking out the door and the moment the door was closed, Tommy started asking questions. Eret was not really surprised. They varied from why do your hands look like that? To the sunglasses yet again. Honestly, Eret wasn't sure how much more they could take of Tommy asking them to take their sunglasses off. 

"Why now? Why only kill Dream now?"

That definitely got Erets attention. 

"I don't really know why I dec-" Tommy cut them off. 

"'Cause if you managed to take out Dream, that says a lot and that means he's gotten a lot less stronger than he used to be. Maybe it could do with this hybrid shit you got goin' on," 

The weather was getting a little Warmer now. At least if they were going to die by Tommy annoying them and insulting them it would be in their favorite weather.

"What type of hybrid are you anyway? Do you even know?" Tommy stopped talking and when Eret glanced at him, he seemed genuinely curious. 

"A dangerous one. No, I will not be elaborating. It's why I decided to hide some of my traits," they used one hand to gesture to the other "My eyes are a feature I can't hide so I wear sunglasses. Since, my eyes are rather unsettling to most." They finished their explanation and stayed in silence for a beat before asking Tommy, "What type of hybrid are you tommy? I don't exactly remember you having ears or -Is that a tail too?" 

Eret looked at the tail of the other before looking back up at Tommy's face which was set in a Grimace."Yeah. It is. According to Tubbo I'm a fuckin' raccoon. Woke up in the middle of the night during my exile in a shit ton of pain. Passed out, for a few days supposedly, don't actually know got that info from dream and prime knows he's not a reliable source. When I finally came too, I had ears and a tail. It might be kinda hard to see but I now look permanently sleep-deprived too. With the whole rings around the eyes. Not too noticeable though. So that's a lucky bit."

They began to see L'manburg in the distance. Or what was left of it. Tommy was surprisingly silent on the way up. Eret stopped at the rim of the crater and looked over at the L'mantree across it. Where they had murdered a man not just 60 minutes ago. Today was moving so quickly. So many things had already happened.

They noticed Tommy head over to a place close to L'manburg but didn't walk over yet. They were pretty sure that the Graveyard was over there. He was most likely visiting Wilbur's grave. They understood the pain of seeing a brother die. But, they knew they could never understand seeing a brother die and not know if you'd ever see them again. That was something else. Seeing someone die and not come back is just painful in general. So, they let Tommy grieve. 

Eret stood there for probably 2 or 3 minutes before they heard steps coming up from beside him. 

"So, we goin', Big man? Big Person?" Tommy asked, breaking the comforting silence. 

"Yeah, we are. Prime paths that way correct?" Eret pointed in the direction of the L'mantree. 

"Obviously Bitch." 

"I'm offended."

"Good you should be." 

Eret huffed in annoyance but a small smile still made its way onto their face. They had a good idea that Tommy's complete switch in behavior was because of Dream's death and possibly not wanting to disappoint Tubbo. They were sure now Tommy still didn't trust them fully. But, he trusted them enough to go off with them alone. Which was a lot for Tommy.

They had reached the community house when Tommy finally spoke again, "How'd you do it?" 

"Kill Dream?" Eret asked for clarification. 

"Yeah. The only person I've ever seen beat him in a duel was my br- I mean Technoblade."

"I was angry, and he wasn't expecting it. I didn't know that you had seen the Duel" Eret decided to ignore the fact that Tommy was about to call Technoblade something else. 

Tommy looked at them with a deadpan expression. "Bitch, who hasn't seen the Duel."

"Well it was a while ago, I wasn't sure if you saw it." Eret defended themself from the playful banter. 

"Okay, so I'm going that way. I'll let you do your thing now." Tommy pointed towards the left of the castle and started walking that direction. 

That left Eret alone with their thoughts and standing in front of their old home. They needed to be in and out quickly. Which was the best thing to get first? Probably resources, if they got chased out of the Castle they could at least trade villagers for better clothing. 

Okay, so they had a plan that was good. They walked over to a side entrance on one of the Towers, and went inside. One of the perks of building a place as big as the castle was alone, is knowing all the ins and outs, and where secret entrances are. The only person who might remember where the entrances were would be Fundy, who helped with the redstone.

They walked quickly up the stairs and into a corridor that led to the library. They knew no one else that lived here, which was Just Hbomb since he didn't like getting involved in wars, wouldn't even think twice about a secret entrance being in a library. That and by the time Hbomb moved in it was too late to move the entrance, they just got lucky. 

They scanned the shelves trying to remember which book it was. Their eyes locked on to a copy of 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell. It was an interesting book and they had an actual copy that they could read somewhere in the library. They pulled the book out and heard a soft groan as the book shelf next to it began to open up and reveal a small space and a ladder going down. They let go of the book and slipped inside the now closing bookshelf. It closed behind them and they looked down the ladder.

There was light at the bottom. This place was like a vault, the most valuable things they owned were in here. They started climbing down the ladder, it took them 30 seconds to reach the bottom even though they were hurrying. They had forgotten just how far into the ground they had it. It was pretty far down. 

The room was illuminated by lanterns hanging off the ceiling and chests filled the room. They had an ender chest there so, anything that wouldn't fit in their inventory would go in there. Some of the chests were empty, or had supplies that they wouldn't need. But, The first chest was the most needed, it had a bunch of diamonds, Iron and Netherite ingots. How much would be needed? They didn't know how much everyone had so they decided to bring as much as they could. It was a safer bet that way. 

They didn't have much in their ender chest so it was easy to put the resources in. They took out a picture that they had brought to the server with them. It was them and Puffy attending a pride event in the main hub. A soft smile filled their face as they reminisced what happened there that day. Then, They took notice of something in the background for the first time. Did they know them? They narrowed their eyes and tried to figure out who it was. Whoever it was, Eret had definitely met them before, and they were a hybrid that had fluffy ears. 

They put it back in the ender chest and started going through all the other chests. They put a stack of gapples, and 2 stacks of cooked steak they had been saving in their inventory. Out of the chest of enchantment books, they took Fire Aspect 2, 2 Sharpness 1, 3 Protection 2, and Thorns 2. Finally, they put lapis in their ender chest so they could use the books at all. They had more but this was all they could fit in their inventory and ender chest without getting rid of their own weapons. 

Deeming that enough Eret began to climb up the ladder. When they got up they pushed a button and the bookcase opened letting them out. They left the library and began to make their way across the Castle to their room. They didn't have a lot of winter clothes but they had a good, thick cloak that Niki had made them, during the days of Manburg. That would suffice and they could grab a sweater too. 

Eret got to the end of the corridor and remembered that they were going to have to get across the throne room. They frowned; they didn't really want to be in the throne room ever again but it had to be done. They quietly went down the stairs leading to the room and looked out to make sure no one was in there. Then, They ran across the room to the other stairwell. 

Why they didn't just make a balcony connecting the two areas of the castle, they didn't know. Eret caught their breath before going upstairs to the Top floor. They entered the bedroom and started going through their dresser, finding an old sweater that would work for cold weather. 

They took off their chest plate and their helmet. Then placed them on the bed. They quickly changed their shirt and put the armor back on. The room had been getting unsettling the past 2 weeks or so and Eret wished they knew why. At the moment they just wanted to get out of there and as quickly as possible. Opening the closet they grabbed their cloak and left the room. 

Eret got down the stairwell and looked back at the Golden throne as they were leaving. They stopped, and stared at it. 

It would be satisfying as hell to see it go. 

Eret walked over and stood a few meters in front of it. 

Oh yeah, they were going to enjoy this. 

They raised the hand that wasn't holding their cloak in front of them and set off an explosion. It was loud and Eret stumbled back a little from the blast. Their hand stung ever so slightly from that but, when the smoke cleared all they saw were ruins of the golden over glorified chair. It brought a smile to their face. 

Eret walked out of the Castle, intending to never see it again. They walked down the Prime Path feeling Freer than they had in a long time. No Royal duties, No constant paperwork, no dream pulling strings. 

The off feeling was back within a few minutes of being away from the castle. It wasn't because they weren't there, something just felt off. They decided to ignore it since they needed to get these supplies to Snowchester. Preferably without dying. 

When Eret turned on onto the path that led to L'manburg and subsequently Snowchester. It was no longer an off feeling, it was a feeling of being watched. Someone possibly not meaning well. It didn't leave until they were almost to Snowchester. That's when they saw the Figure staring at them in the Trees. 

It was the person in the picture.

Now that Eret was looking at them, they could tell exactly who they were.

But, they had a bow aimed directly at their heart and didn't seem very happy about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deciding that it would be best not to talk with tubbo right now so he didn't get distracted, they placed the enchantment books in chest and walked over to the ladder. They began to climb up and were met with Ghostbur waiting for them. 
> 
> "Okay, so we need to talk." The ghost said quietly. 
> 
> "No shit." Eret whispered in response, going to sit down. They sat down away from the ladder so tubbo wouldn't hear their conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: swearing, implied suicide, weapons
> 
> Here we are with another chapter!
> 
> Thank you for all the support I've gotten on this! It's just amazing to me how many people like this story.

The eyes Eret were now staring into were filled with pain. 

Very Familiar golden eyes, that were brimmed with tears. 

A face came with the eyes that matched what they were showing. The face was silently saying I'm sorry. 

They knew who it was. 

Fundy had a bow aimed at them.

"I'm sorry. I don't have a choice. Dre-" Fundys words were rushed, and then he was cut off clearly trying to get more words out but seemed like he no longer could. His mouth was moving but no noise was coming out. 

Eret knew they should be running and that they should be getting back to Snowchester right then and there, but they couldn't move themselves. He didn't have a choice, what did fundy mean by that? Why didn't he have a choice? Did Dream figure out some mind control bullshit? Or Did he actually have a choice and was lying? No he couldn't be lying, they knew that fundy would not willingly join Dreams side. 

Eret grew more concerned as their friend began seemingly battling himself internally. "Fundy. Are you oka-" 

They got cut off by Fundy gasping as if he was in serious amounts of pain and saying "Eret. Run. Now." In a deadly serious tone. 

And, Eret ran. They didn't want to abandon their friend but whenever fundy spoke like that you listened. He never spoke like that, ever. Even in serious situations, he only spoke like that if he was absolutely sure someone was going to die if they didn't listen. That voice had always scared them.

They quickly arrived at Snowchester shaking off their expression of fear, and entered the main cabin quietly as possible since he didn't know what Tubbo was doing. It might be a sound sensitive thing and they didn't want to accidentally hurt him. They had already done that too much. They put their cloak on the coat hanger near the door. Tubbo from the sound of it was still down in the basement. They decided to join him after a minute or so, because it couldn't be that bad. Tubbo probably just had a villager thing going on downstairs. 

They climbed down the ladder and turned to see Tubbo talking to Wilbur, or Ghostbur as everyone but Eret knew him as, about a Project he was putting on hold. Which was nukes. How the child figured out how to make nukes they weren't sure. But, it made Eret concerned. 

"Tubbo what do you mean Nukes?" Eret asked, in a concerned tone. 

Tubbo turned to them and said excitedly "I've been working on a project where I make nukes. It hasn't been very successful so far but I was gonna test one soon with Tommy. I think I got it this time. It probably wouldn't be a very big explosion though." 

They were wondering if they should tell Tubbo now about fundy, but decided they'd rather tell everyone at once later. That and at the moment they were more focused on the fact that Tubbo was about to succeed in making Nukes. "I- okay." 

"Don't worry, Eret. We were gonna test it far away from here and everybody. Just in case it's a bigger boom than we anticipated. As for why, I was convinced we were never gonna get out of here and wanted to have some fun." 

"Nukes? For fun?" Eret let go of the death grip they had on the ladder and put their hand at their side, since the ladder was starting to decay and turn gray. They needed to work on better control of that. Wilbur floated up into the upstairs glancing at Eret, briefly. Yeah, they were both gonna have a lot to talk about and possibly do later. 

"Yeah, we didn't want them to do much so they'd probably only do 3x as much damage as TNT." 

That got Erets attention and gave them an idea. 

"Do you think you could do the same thing but with fireworks?" They asked tubbo putting a hand out in front of themselves as they began to walk over to where tubbo was. 

Tubbo seemed confused for a second and then his face lit up. He knew what they were implying now. 

"Maybe, it doesn't seem too hard. But that would do some serious damage wouldn't it. Oh that green bitch isn't going to know what hit 'im." 

Eret was now next to tubbo who was tinkering with what looked like TNT but was apparently not TNT. "Do you need any help with that or should I go make myself useful elsewhere?" They asked. 

"Could you make some Fireworks? I should have the materials in one of those chests." Tubbo waved vaguely in the direction of the many chests on the wall.

"Okay I can do that." 

It took some scoring but they finally found the resources in one of the top chests. They carried the items to the crafting table and began crafting the fireworks. While they crafted the fireworks they thought about Fundy and why he would've showed up in the background of a picture at pride. 

Maybe, he was there supporting one of his friends. Maybe he was part of the community himself. They remembered something Fundy said when they first met each other "My b-friend 5up is someone I really miss. I hope we get out of here soon. I'm not used to being apart from him for very long." Eret thought about the implications of that, maybe the two of them weren't just friends. Fundy had stuttered a bit before saying friend. They weren't completely sure what Fundy could have meant with that. Maybe, 5up could've been his brother. 

Then again, maybe 5up was part of the community and Fundy was going to pride with him. There were so many possibilities. They vaguely remembered that Fundy had told them he was trans FTM. But, since at that point he had already fully transitioned, they had forgotten that. Because, Fundy was a man in their eyes. Always had been. 

It made sense now that they remembered. But, that meant Fundy could have lived in the same area of the Main hub as them. The last time Eret had seen his city it had about 50 thousand people living there. Since, It was near the Castle that belonged to Philza Minecraft. It wasn't a big one, It was about the size of erets old one, small enough to get through easily but definitely bigger than most houses. He was one of the originals that showed up in the main hub, and helped create it. He was also unfortunately one of the only ones that had been seen often anymore. 

The other one was Captainsparklez, he had been seen a lot less in the years going up to the last one. But, he was still around. Last they had heard he lived in either a cottage in the woods near Philzas, or in a private server. 

Eret was finally done crafting the Fireworks. In all reality it probably didn't take them that long but they had zoned out and thought about a lot of things. 

"Tubbo. I have those Fireworks for you." They called out, beginning to bring them over to where Tubbo was working. 

"Okay, put them there." Tubbo Pointed with his foot to a place next to him, eyes fixated on what he was doing. 

Eret took a peak at what he had done so far, the nuke was dismantled and the components that made the boom were being worked into a smaller shape to fit inside the fireworks. They were impressed to say the least. Their forte was building structures not redstone and stuff like this. They walked over to where the chests were and was about to open the one that had a ton of enchantment books to put theirs in there. They should tell tubbo, so he didn't get confused later.

"I'm gonna put the enchantment books I brought from my old castle with yours." Eret said. 

"'Kay." Tubbo answered. 

Deciding that it would be best not to talk with tubbo right now so he didn't get distracted, they placed the enchantment books in chest and walked over to the ladder. They began to climb up and were met with Ghostbur waiting for them. 

"Okay, so we need to talk." The ghost said quietly. 

"No shit." Eret whispered in response, going to sit down. They sat down away from the ladder so tubbo wouldn't hear their conversation. 

"Okay, so I'm assuming you have the book, because otherwise the whole killing and creating a very pissed off dream would've been for nothing." Wilbur said. This was wilbur, not Ghostbur the act he put on for everyone else's sake. 

They didn't know why, but they had been able to figure out that Ghostbur was an act almost instantly. They hadn't talked much since Wilbur died except for a few exchanges in information and the first time they talked with each other again. 

"I do have the book. I haven't had time to look at it properly though so, I'll do that now." They pulled out the book. They were both talking in hushed voices just in case. 

The first page didn't say much, only things about warning the user about what could go wrong. The next page was what they needed. It said they needed to go to a place that was special to the person they were trying to resurrect. 

"For me, I think L'manburg would work well." Wilbur commented. 

Then, They would need to gather things that were important to the person. 

"Tommy has my coat and beanie in his stuff, along with a L'manburg Flag. Maybe, some blue dye since it's important to Ghostbur. But it's not actually important to me so I don't know if we'd need that. A block of TNT, and We need Gold, as well. One other thing but it isn't in this world." 

"Why gold?" Eret questioned.

"I have a twin. We're piglin hybrids, but I got recessive genes at least for physical traits. So no features for me, except ears that seem just a little too pointy to be completely human. Instead, I got piglin instincts which include being territorial, loving gold, and others." Wilbur explained with ease, as if he had done it a million times before. 

"Huh, nice to know." 

Finally, they would need to kill Wilbur, the way he died.

"So the book says we need to kill you." 

"How...how the fuck do you kill a ghost? I mean the dying by explosion part, shouldn't be too hard but still. How do you kill a ghost?" Wilbur sounded dumbfounded. 

"I don't really know. Maybe there's an alternative..?" Eret mumbled trailing off as they flipped the page. 

How on earth would they get their hands on one of those? 

Wilbur looked over Erets shoulder and said "Oh, that's a problem." 

"Yeah, do totems even exist here? Dream might have put a block on them like he did for the end." 

"No he didn't. I was concerned because I only know of one person here that has a Totem and we are probably going to have to steal it. And, that's Badboyhalo. Then do the whole ritual thing. You'd still have to kill me though. But it doesn't have to be how I died from the looks of it. You could just stab me." 

Eret looked back at the book and saw that Wilbur was right. "Okay what I'm hearing is, we can either blow up more of L'manburg potentially, killing you, a ghost or steal a totem from a 9 and a half foot tall demon and stab you, killing you, who again is a ghost. How?"

Eret looked up at Wilbur who shrugged and said "We could try the first thing and then if it fails we try the second thing." 

Eret sighed and got up. They flipped to the next page to see if there was any other information that might be useful. "Oh, yeah that makes sense." 

Wilbur, who was now floating at the door, looked over at them confused. They explained what they found, "There's a script that I'd have to read during your death. Or chant or something. It's necessary though." 

"Not surprised. I have TNT already in my inventory, we just have to get my old belongings from Tommy's cabin." Wilbur now had a look of determination. Something they hadn't seen in a long time. Wilbur then floated out the door leaving Eret to follow. Grabbing their cloak they headed out tying the knot while walking towards where Ghostbur was waiting at one of the smaller cabins. 

When they got to the cabin Ghostbur floated in and Eret opened the door and walked in. Because, they couldn't just walk through walls like Wilbur could. Ghostbur was now going through the chests and then mointioned them over to one. 

"Okay so, You know how you can't put regular clothes in your inventory for some shitty reason. Well, I can't do that either, but can't even touch them without my hand going through. I can put the flag in my inventory since it's technically a banner but you're gonna have to carry the clothes." Wilbur explained.

"That's fine," they picked up the red beanie and the trench coat that had burns and small holes on mainly the bottom and the front of it. "It is stupid that you can't put clothes in your inventory. I don't think there's a reason for it, but I guess the Originals just decided to do that for some reason. Where does Tommy keep gold?" 

"Over here, I think." Wilbur floated up to a chest that was on a shelf at the very top of the cabin. 

"Oh wow. I didn't even notice that." Eret said their eyes following where Wilbur was going. 

"Tommy said that was the point, so people couldn't steal his valuables." Wilbur was sorting through the chest.

"Kinda counter productive to tell someone." Eret commented as Wilbur found what he was looking for. 

"I think Tommy was assuming since I was supposedly a ghost that didn't have a care in the world that Tommy didn't think it would mean anything if he told me." Wilbur floated down and joined them at groundlevel. 

Eret walked out the door and closed it behind them and began the walk to L'manburg. 

"Hey, so can we avoid the direct path and go around the forest instead of right next to it?" They asked Wilbur as they got closer to the forest. 

"Sure I guess, did something happen?" Wilbur started floating in a direction that would lead them away from the forest. 

"Yeah, you could say that." They responded not knowing what else to say. 

When they were a good ways away from the forest they began to walk parallel to the forest. That's when Wilbur finally asked them "So, mind telling me what happened exactly?" 

"Something happened with Fundy." Eret began not expecting what was about to happen next. 

Wilbur abruptly turned towards them asked "What the fuck do you mean? What the hell happened with my son?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I have some questions, about being a ghost and all." They told Wilbur.
> 
> "I probably have answers." Wilbur relaxed a little. 
> 
> "Can you leave the server, since technically you're dead?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: swearing, implied characer death (flashback), death, weapons
> 
> Hi, I'm back with another chapter! 
> 
> It took a bit longer than usual.
> 
> Note, I haven't had a flashback so it might be a little wrong. 
> 
> Enjoy!!

They held the clothes in their hand a little tighter. Wilbur did not look happy. Eret knew that fundy was not his biological son in the slightest but Wilbur considered fundy his son. Like, how Eret considered tubbo their brother. It had started as a joke but over time Eret saw the same protective demeanor that Wilbur had for Tommy show for Fundy too. They knew that Wilbur was not going to be happy with this news. 

"I think Dream is somehow controlling him. Earlier, I was walking by the forest and I spotted him. He had a bow aimed at my heart and seemed in a lot of pain. He tried to explain something, the only thing he got out was 'I'm sorry, I don't have a choice. Dre-' before his words got cut off. Implying that Dream did something. He seemed to fight something in his head before he told me to run, in that serious tone no one ever wants to hear. So, I did. I don't want him to do something he clearly doesn't want to do, so that's why I wanted to avoid the Forest." Eret explained as quickly and as calmly as possible as they didn't want to upset Wilbur anymore than he already was. 

"You ju- he's, He's gonna be okay. He's not going to get hurt. We're gonna take that green blob down." Wilbur sounded distraught, but his face showed that he was pushing down rage. 

"We unfortunately can't do much about it right now. Since, we don't know fully what's going on about that, but we need to do what we can now. Which is to try to keep as many people on our side as possible. Starting, with reviving you, so you can help in a fight." Eret did their best to keep a level tone but they weren't very happy with the situation either. 

Wilbur didn't say anything in response to them, but instead chose to start floating towards L'manburg. They quickly started following the ghost. The air between them was now tense, and Eret wasn't sure what to say to get the answers to many questions they had. If Wilbur even had an answer for them.

Like, why hadn't Wilbur left yet to tell someone what was going on here? What happened to Schlatt? He just disappeared after he died. Who was Wilbur's twin and why had he never mentioned them before? How long had they been here? Were there more people being controlled by Dream? If so, how many? How was Dream even doing it?

"Do you miss your family, Eret?" 

They blinked and were brought back to the real world. "My birth Family, no. They were homophobic and Transphobic. I do miss my friend Puffy, though. She's kinda like my sister in a sense. A few people here, I've come to consider my family. I learnt a while ago that family is what you make it. What about yours, Wilbur?"

"I miss my brother and my dad a lot. When talking to Tommy in private it hurts to pretend I don't know them. But, it's so that they don't get forced here and get hurt. So that Tommy and fundy don't get hurt more than they already have," They were sure they were the cause of some of that, "Because, Dream is this fucking master manipulator." Wilbur looked like he wanted to cry.

Eret wondered when either of them had last had a chance to vent to anyone. Or sort through their trauma. Did anyone on the server even go through their trauma or did they just bury it and hope it goes away? Did the trauma from what they did still affect them? Why had they even done it?

"I have some questions, about being a ghost and all." They told Wilbur.

"I probably have answers." Wilbur relaxed a little. 

"Can you leave the server, since technically you're dead?" 

"No, unfortunately when Dream created this place he thought of everything. You either come back as a Ghost or just disappear I think. No, believe me if I could've left I would've to go get help." The sky was starting to become a golden color as the sun set. 

"What happened to Schlatt?" They looked over at the ghost.

"Okay so I don't know if you know this but after Schlatts funeral and all that, Quackity ate his heart," Eret bit back a look of disgust at that information, "So only Quackity sees him. I also see him since I'm also a ghost. But he's still here as a ghost. He couldn't leave either." 

"This question doesn't really have to do with being a ghost but," Wilbur raised his eyebrows at them, "Does it still affect you guys? What happened in the final control room?" Their voice was quiet and filled with guilt. 

They could see Wilbur suck in a breath despite not needing to breathe. They knew they had just branched into a sensitive topic that no one wanted to talk about. A topic that even people who weren't a part of it didn't like.

"Yes, it does. I think there is always going to be a subconscious sense of fear or caution in most of us around you. Tubbo, trusted you again too quickly in my opinion but by now you've proved that you regret your decision. Tommy, has always had trust issues and It's probably going to take some time for him to completely trust you again. If he ever does; he's been through a lot. I can't speak on Fundy," Wilbur hesitated.

"But, he seemed to begin to trust you again after the whole flamingo thing that happened. As for me, I didn't really have clear thoughts on your attempts to redeem yourself until after I died. After I died it seemed to clear my mind of Insanity. I still remember everything that happened, and I'm still the same. Just, not insane. But, when I finally was able to process what you've done since then I decided I could maybe trust you again. 

"I followed you around a bit, to see if I could. Ghosts can turn invisible without using potions, I found that out. Tommy was very confused when he scared me and all of a sudden I was gone. Then, after everything that happened earlier today, I decided that I could probably trust you again. You gave me a possibility that I'd see the rest of my family again, even if it's just one time." Wilbur finished his answer to the question and looked over at them as if to see if they had anymore. 

They were honestly expecting the response that it still affected them, but the part where they all trusted them just a little now made their heart soar. They regretted their betrayal with every bone in their body, and spent countless hours trying to earn their trust again. It was finally starting to pay off. 

"One last question, why did you not show that you were still Wilbur, and make up this persona of Ghostbur?" They could begin to see the crater in the ground far ahead of them. 

"It was for the better, if Dream thought that I couldn't remember anything then that's one less person he can use to his leverage. I'm a ghost that can't really remember anything useful. He can't threaten to hurt people I don't remember very effectively. As for why around everyone else you don't know when Dream could be listening." Wilbur stated. 

"That's kinda depressing Wilbur." They frowned.

"Everything about this world is depressing, Eret." Wilbur spoke the truth out loud. Something none of them really wanted to admit. 

"Yeah…" They were walking up on L'manburg.

They walked around the crater and headed towards where the podium used to be. They hoped this would work. They didn't know what they were gonna do if it didn't work, they didn't really have a second back up plan if both ways failed. 

Coming up on the ruins of the podium, Eret asked "Okay, so how do you think we should set up the TNT?" 

Wilbur hummed, "Probably just in a circle around where I'll stand, that should kill me. If you can kill a ghost." Wilbur floated to where his chair used to be and began to place TNT around himself while Eret stood several feet away, opening the book to the right page. 

They were nervous. They didn't know how this was gonna go. They remembered what else they had to do and placed the clothes with Wilbur. Who took out the L'manburg Flag and put it on top of the clothes along with the gold. 

"Okay so, do I die before, after, or during your chant thing?" Wilbur asked them.

"It says you need to die at the end of it." They said glancing at the notes on the side of the page. 

"Okay so light the TNT a few seconds before the end. Give me a Thumbs up at that time and I'll know to light the TNT." Wilbur sounded forcibly calm and was tapping his fingers against his leg. 

Which was fair. They didn't know if Wilbur was going to be alive at the end of this, or just gone, or still a ghost. 

"Okay here we go." 

"Okay.."

"Find the soul whose life was not over, whose debts were not paid, whose promises were not kept. Find the soul whose life is not over, for they still have many things to complete. Let them cross from the plain of," Eret gave Wilbur a thumbs up and heard the sound of TNT being ignited, "which they wander aimlessly and back into the world of the living." The text was spoken loudly and at the last word the TNT went off. 

They squinted trying to catch the form of Wilbur. When all the dust finally settled no one was there. A ghost just died and was not showing back up. What had gone wrong? They quickly checked the Text, they had said it all right. Hadn't they? What had gone wrong? 

They noticed a light steadily getting brighter where Wilbur was standing not 30 seconds ago. It was getting too bright for them, even with sunglasses on. They shielded their eyes and all of a sudden heard a loud piercing scream. 

It was all too familiar.

It was Wilbur.

Just like that they were back in the final control room. Reliving a memory and time of regret. Much to their surprise. 

Watching them all die at their feet. 

_Wilbur looked at him with a look of horror, as he seemingly realized what they had done. A sword pierced his gut and he screamed. There was so much screaming. Wilbur was the one nearest to them as they backed into the corner they had dug out for themselves. He was the loudest._

_Tommy was yelling for Tubbo._

_And, Tubbo was screaming for Tommy._

_Tubbos screaming stopped. They didn't like what that implied._

_Fundy wasn't even able to make a sound before he fell down via Sapnaps Axe._

_  
~~Did they make the right decision? They were all important to them.~~  
_

_With twisted pride, they said, smiling, looking directly into the face of their old General, "Down with the revolution boys, It was never meant to be."_

_"You traitor we trusted you!" Yelled Tommy before disappearing in smoke._

_Almost right after Tommy had said that Wilbur poofed away joining him. His eyes had been wide with terror and disbelief._

_"Well done, Eret. I almost believed you wouldn't do it." Dream said, beginning to wipe blood off his sword._

_  
~~That was Tubbos blood. Why had they done this again? They hated seeing that. They didn't want to see it.~~  
_

_"Well, I did believe it or not. I can be a very convincing person."_

_Sapnap laughed and patted them on the back. "C'mon let's go see how those 'Revolution' boys are doing now."_

_"Is the TNT set up?" George spoke for the first time._

_"Yeah, all you'll have to do is blow up one piece in the entrance and it should go off."_

_"And, here's your Crown Eret since you kept up your part of the bargain." Dream reached into his Inventory and handed them a golden Crown._

_  
~~They got this by killing their friends and family. What even made them think this was a good Idea?~~  
_

_Eret grinned and put it on their head. Looking at the front of L'manburg. A place that was going to be reduced to ashes soon._

_"So, do you have a white flag for us General Soot?" Dream sounded confident._

_Wilbur was glaring at them all while saying, "We want Independence or Death. We would rather die than give into you and join your SMP."_

_"Very well. That can be arranged. Eret care to do the Honors?" Dream looked back at them._

_They silently walked forward into view, smiling with amusement when the others saw what was now onto the top of his head. They placed a piece of TNT and asked, "Any final Words boys?"_

_Tommy was the only one that spoke, "Eret I mean this in the harshest way possible, you fucked up."_

_They lit the TNT. And ran back with Dream, George, and Sapnap trailing behind._

_"Step back, don't let this hurt you."_

_Eret looked back to see the initial piece go off and set off the others. The looks of surprise as they all scrambled back and watched their nation blow up with them in it._

__  
~~Was it worth it?~~  


Eret got pulled into reality by something repeatedly tapping their chest. It was a piece of gold, held by wilbur, who was still a ghost. 

"So, I don't think it worked. I think it almost did though. You good?" Wilbur said, sounding exhausted, pulling his hand back after realizing that they were in fact in the present. 

"You were screaming in pain. It just reminded me of what I…did. Wilbur I want you to know I truly regret doing it with every bone in my body. I was questioning why I was doing it beforehand, while it was happening and after." Eret shut themself up before rambling further. 

"Look I don't know why you would have a flashback from the sound of it even ages after it happened, but none of us expected it to affect you really. But, we need to steal the totem before Bad gets back to his base. We can talk about it on the way. Today really is just the day to be sharing and reliving trauma." Wilbur said with a determined look on his face. 

"Okay." 

"Okay, so why did you do it if you regretted it before you did it?" Wilbur asked, as they set off towards Bads base. 

Which was a problem, they couldn't remember exactly why they did it. 

"I think it might have been because I was thinking that if I had more power on the server. The higher chance I had of taking down Dream. But, I honestly don't remember why." They admitted. 

Wilbur was silent and focused on something in the trees that were a part of the forest. They looked over where Wilbur was staring and saw. 

Two eyes glowing green. 

That belonged to the previously golden eyed Fox Hybrid. 

The were absolutely sure now that A) Dream was controlling fundy and B) Dream knew what they were trying to do and the truth about Wilbur.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Could I technically turn invisible and go grab it or scout out where it is?" Wilbur asked them. 
> 
> They looked to the right and then at Wilbur and whispered, "Oh my Aether. You technically could, Couldn't you?" 
> 
> "Well it seems like we can both be idiots, sometimes. I don't know if I'll be able to pick it up though since it's pretty powerful." Wilbur admitted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: swearing, threat of murder, knives 
> 
> Hi, it's been like a week now. 
> 
> (Edit) what are Bads and skeppy tags? Why are they their actual names?
> 
> Enjoy the chapter :))

"Oh fuck. This is what you meant. Oh, this won't end well. Schlatt mentioned something like this before." Wilbur said. 

Eret looked at Wilbur confused. What did he mean by that? What did Schlatt know? 

"We need to go. Now." Wilbur turned quickly from the eyes watching them and started floating as quickly as possible towards Bads base. 

They ran after him leaving Fundy. "Wilbur what do you mean? Do you know how Dream is doing this?" 

Wilbur only answered when they were close enough to hear him whisper, "Maybe, and if I'm right it's going to be a problem. I don't know much but we need Quackity since Schlatts always follows him around. Schlatt knows this type of stuff and can clarify what's happening." 

"So, we really can't do anything?" They asked quietly. They had been silently hoping that maybe Wilbur knew something that they didn't and they could get Fundy out of it before they had to actually fight him. It didn't seem like it was going that way. 

"No, unfortunately. We are Lucky though that Quackity ate Schlatts heart because I don't think he'd be here without that happening. Schlatts dabbled in Magic a handful of times and knows this type of Stuff. He has the answers we need." Wilbur responded. 

Eret stopped running and switched to walking to catch their breath. Wilbur may not need to but they were still human. 

"I'd be cautious about what we say about plans out in the open now. From what I remember Schlatt mentioned that some forms of possession can hear and see what the person they're possessing sees and hears." Wilbur murmured. 

"That's fucking wonderful, not a problem at all Wilbur. They only could have heard a bunch of shit that even our allies don't know." They hissed sarcastically. 

"Look I'm just saying the only thing we can do to confirm our suspicions is talk to schlatt. I wasn't really listening when he told me about it, but he knows what he's talking about." 

"Were you once friends with Schlatt? Or was this a peace treaty thing because you are both ghosts?" Honestly Eret was rather pissed about the situation. And it wasn't helping that they and Wilbur kept trading off being the calm one. 

"Yeah, we used to be. Before all of this. I honestly miss the chaos we caused. We met in a world where lava rose steadily. We fortunately found the portal out before we started dying constantly due to spawn being under lava. I haven't mentioned it before, but as I just shared this isn't my first time getting stuck in a world because someone else wants to see some random people suffer." Wilbur chuckled dryly. 

"That sounds...like absolute hell. How the hell did you deal with him?" They asked genuinely interested and looking for any change in topic that wouldn't be useful to dream they walked down the Prime Path towards a death mission. 

"He wasn't always like he is here. He had a brother and a sister but he had no clue where they went, since he didn't know where the hell he was after we got out. He was really worried about them. As far as we are aware he hasn't seen them since. We became close in the lava filled world. Honestly the only reason we survived was because he knew Magic. Otherwise I would've died several times over. He used to be a genuinely cool guy to be around. I haven't talked to him much as a ghost but maybe his mind kinda got reset like mine did." Wilbur rambled. 

The Mansion or base, They weren't really sure what to call It anymore, was now in view. What they were about to do became much more real. Bad was nice, but he was a very old friend of Dream's and usually sided with him. 

"We're here Wilbur." 

"I noticed. So anyways The Totem is in one of 3 places." 

"You don't know where it is??" Eret said butting in.

"I did. I think it might have been moved. But, it should be in the same place." Wilbur confirmed their fears. 

"Wilbur, we are about to steal an incredible powerful item that can literally bring people back from the brink of death from one of Dream's most constant allies and you're saying you have a guess as to where it is." Eret looked at him incredulously.

"Wilbur mate How the hell are we going to do this?" They said sighing looking at the house in front of them sadly. 

This seemed like an impossible task. They knew the Demon had lived a long time. Possibly as long as Dream, he knew enchantments that could kill with a single touch. They had seen it first hand in the Manburg vs. Pogtopia war. Then, again they didn't even need enchantments to do the same thing. Hewouldn't be stupid enough to leave a Totem lying around, would he? 

"Could I technically turn invisible and go grab it or scout out where it is?" Wilbur asked them. 

They looked to the right and then at Wilbur and whispered, "Oh my Aether. You technically could, Couldn't you?" 

"Well it seems like we can both be idiots, sometimes. I don't know if I'll be able to pick it up though since it's pretty powerful." Wilbur admitted. 

"Okay, so you scout it out and to find where it is. Possibly test if you can pick it up and then come back." 

"Yeah, and I can see why you're scared of Bad. What he knows and what he does is scary. The persona he puts up throws a lot of the others off." 

They sighed, and watched as Wilbur disappeared into Thin air. They were alone as far as they were aware. It was best not to get lost in thought now since they needed to stay aware of their surroundings. Being actively hunted down was not fun. Especially by Fundy. Fundy was known to be, well like a fox. He was usually sent on recon during wars or petty fights. Because, he knew how to observe, stay hidden, and most of all take out the enemy if needed. 

That made them wonder. Why had they spotted Fundy so easily today? Maybe, he had some degree of control and was doing it on purpose. Wait, they were supposed to be paying attention so they didn't get murdered, not going back into their thoughts. 

Eret shook their head and scanned their surroundings. They didn't feel like anyone was watching them so that was good. All they had to do was wait for Wilbur. 

They looked at the sunset. The sun was half visible from where they were standing. If someone saw them from behind it would almost seem like a movie scene. A person standing on a hill in front of a house, staring into the sunset. It almost made them laugh, but the reason would be scary to most. They were all fighting for their lives. And, some of them might not make it out of here. They might go down alongside Dream, whether they wanted to be on his side or not. Or maybe, the rest of them were going to go down fighting. Leaving Dream to find other pawns to play with. 

The sunset was one of the bittersweet beauties in this world. It was always beautiful no matter where you saw it. The oranges mix with red and occasionally purples and blues. Night was approaching and hopefully they would all survive to see the Sun rise tomorrow. There was always a strange beauty in this world. Something the main hub couldn't match. It was just a random world filled with beauty and tainted by blood. 

"Okay," Eret jumped at the sound of Wilbur suddenly speaking. Despite telling themselves not to zone out they still did. Looking around they couldn't find him. "Oh, oops." The ghost reappeared a couple of feet away. "Good news and bad news. Good news, I know where it is and Bad isn't currently home. Bad news, I couldn't pick it up." Wilbur explained. 

"So, is it a place easily accessible? Or.." They trailed off. It was probably in a bunker of some sort. 

"It's in a bunker." 

"Not surprised. Don't know why I was expecting it to be anywhere else. At least he's not home." Eret sighed. 

"Yep. So I'll lead you there now." Wilbur started to float down towards the Mansion, They had settled on it. 

They started following, wanting to get in and out quickly as possible. Didn't want the Demon to show back up and see them stealing one of his most prized possessions. That would definitely end well. 

As they came up on the actual door, they realized just how big the place was. It was smaller than the Castle, but was definitely one of the biggest structures in the world. They actually weren't sure if the Castle was the biggest build on the server. They had heard talk about a big obsidian box somewhere. They weren't sure if it would be considered a building if it was just that. Maybe there was something in it. 

One of the things that surprised them, was that it seemed made entirely of quartz. At least on the outside. Except the door, the door was oak. Very simple, despite everything else.

Opening the door, as quietly as possible Eret looked around for where Wilbur had gone. Wilbur was heading down one of the hallways to the left and down a flight of stairs. They rushed to catch up and not get lost. Wilbur glanced back at them as if to make sure they were still following him. He probably was. 

Wilbur was leading them into a kitchen of some sorts. It had furnaces but it also had other things that weren't usually available in private worlds. So Eret was left dumbfounded as they stared at an actual sink, for the first time in a while. 

"How the hell did bad get a hold of a sink? I thought you couldn't get one here?" They asked. 

Wilbur turned from where he was studying closely the knives, and looked at the sink. He looked dumbfounded as well. "Well. I- ma- maybe it's because he knows Dream and is on decent terms with him." Wilbur said with finality. 

"Why are you studying the knives?" They said walking over to where the bunch of knives were kept. 

"One of these activates the redstone to access the room. It should ha- Oh there it is." Wilbur pulled one of the shorter handles out and they heard a click. Then various blocks moved before they heard everything stop. 

Confused, they looked behind them to see stairs where the Sink once was. "Aw, man. The sinks gone. Just got that back."

Wilbur let out a small laugh at Erets commentary as he floated down. They grumbled and started walking down the stairs. Which were quartz, like the rest of the house. They stepped on what they thought was the ground after going down, but was actually a pressure plate. They immediately stepped back up on the stairs out, just in case. Instead they heard blocks above them and looked behind them seeing the entrance close. 

They stepped over the pressure plate this time and looked at Wilbur. "It's in this chest." He said.

Eret nodded wordlessly and looked at the chest. It was a double chest on the floor out of 8 other chests in there. They opened the chest and there it was. The totem emitted a soft blue, pulsing light. They reached in and took it. They could feel the raw power. Quickly they put it in their inventory and turned around. 

"Okay so we have the totem, now." They took a deep breath to try and calm their nerves. 

Wilbur nodded and started heading out. Eret tested the pressure plate again and put one foot on it. Sure enough they could see and hear the entrance opening. They walked up and clicked the knife back into place. The entrance closed. They were impressed by the redstone. They weren't sure who could have done it but it was well done. 

They backtracked their steps out of the house. Wilbur was nowhere to be seen but they assumed that he was either invisible or already out of the house or both. They hoped to Aether that they could get out in time. They heard a door open and someone talking. 

Fuck. 

They ran as quietly as they could back down the hallway and into another hallway. They saw a door that looked like a closet and went inside. 

It ended up being a bedroom, it wasn't badly decorated but it was clear that whoever lived here wasn't here often as dust had started to appear on things. Some of it looked like redstone dust, but they ignored it. Hopefully it was just a guest bedroom, but it didn't look like it. They slipped into the actual closet of the room and stayed silent. There wasn't anything in it but it was very spacious. They sat down.

Wilbur probably wasn't going to be able to talk to them. The ghost didn't have a communicator after dying and they wouldn't like to risk getting caught. They hoped they wouldn't have to stay long, Tubbo would've definitely noticed that they and Wilbur were gone by now. Tommy would probably be back with Quackity if he went to Snowchester with Tommy. A likely scenario was that Wilbur was hanging around invisible to make sure they didn't die or get caught. Which would also end in death. 

Another scenario was that Wilbur left, and went to go others to get them out. But, that was much less likely. They stayed in there for a few minutes before hearing Voices and footsteps approaching. 

Then the door to the room opened. They were still in the closet, but the bedroom was now going to be in use. How were they going to get out of this one? 

"Yeah that's fine Sam. I assume you won't mind staying in your usual room." The voice of bad said right outside the door. 

Their heart hammered in fear. Who was Sam? They hadn't heard of anyone named Sam on the server. It was hard not to notice people. 

The voice that probably belonged to this Sam fellow replied, "No, I don't mind. I might Join you and Skeppy," They had forgotten that Skeppy lived with Bad. "for dinner, but I've done a lot of work today and I'm pretty tired, so we'll see what happens. Thanks bad." 

The door closed and someone, Sam they assumed, began to shuffle around the room. A light now shown from the bottom and top of the door way. They quietly got up from where they were sitting in case the other decided to open the door. They didn't know if the other was an ally or enemy. But, when it comes to people who are on friendly terms with Badboyhalo, you never know. 

They heard a flop and then a muffled, "Prime, it feels good to sleep on an actual bed." 

What had this person been doing that would have made them not sleep properly for days? Eret didn't sleep a lot but that was because they didn't technically have to get more than a few hours of sleep every day which they usually ignored. But, they still slept occasionally and this person might be human and they knew it wasn't healthy for a human. 

They heard the person get up and walk over somewhere. They saw the handle begin to turn. 

The door to the closet opened. 

Reacting on pure instinct, before the other could say anything they had their hand over their mouth and whispered in their ear "If you say a word that I am here to either Badboyhalo or Skeppy I will not hesitate to kill you and them using means you haven't seen before." 

The Sam dude was lucky half their mind was completely focused on not killing them. Because otherwise he would've already been dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> (You can skip this if you want, its just me being happy people like my writing)  
> This fic has gained a lot of traction in my opinion having been used to sites that show things based on popularity and not when it was posted and updated.  
> But, a lot of people have seen my writing with the way ao3 works and they enjoy it and it makes me really happy. So thank you for 220 kudos and almost 2000 hits (I think that means reads, but I'm not sure) and 30 bookmarks.  
> This really means a lot to me. 
> 
> I do not have a consistent update schedule but most chapters should be out by the time a week passes since the last chapter was posted. So varying from 1-7 days. 
> 
> Also, I promise everything lorewise will make sense at some point. Most of the people in the smp with make an appearance at some point and others have a big role just haven't been introduced yet. 
> 
> I hope you all have a great day, and make sure to drink water. It's important! :))


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 seconds.
> 
> They didn't have time to think about it, they had to escape in… 
> 
> 3...  
> 2..  
> 1.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: cursing, referenced manipulation
> 
> hello :))
> 
> Enjoy chapter!!

The person nodded yes and gestured to Erets hand. Most likely asking for then to take it off. So, cautiously they did and moved back a little.

"Okay, first things first. I in no way want to be on the side of Dream," Sam spoke, Eret relaxed a little at that, but the way he phrased it made them cautious. "Second, my name is Sam. My Pronouns are he/him. And, I will not tell either of them that you are here." 

"Hi Sam. My name is Eret, I go by all pronouns, I usually use they/them for myself. Most use he/him out of convenience. If you're not on Dreams side, why the hell have I never seen or heard of you before?" Eret questioned. They wanted to get as much information as they could from this guy. 

It was now that they actually looked at Sam who was taller than them, by almost a full foot. Probably standing at about 7'2 or 7'3. He seemed to be a creeper hybrid and had red pinpoints in where most people's pupils would be. The rest of his eyes were pitch black. So, another person that could join the 'We don't have normal eyes club'.

"I've stayed out of wars and conflicts. I've spent the first several months here exploring trying to find a way out. When I came back everything had gone to chaos and I decided to stay out of it. And, I know who you are." He explained.

"Not surprised. Sorry, for threatening you, I guess. It was instinctive and I didn't know if you were going to try to immediately kill me." Eret mumbled. For the first time in a while Eret felt short. 

"Hey, it's fine. You were hiding from someone you had absolutely no information about and people you did have information about. Which if I can ask, why are you hiding?" Sam walked out of the doorway and sat on the bed. 

Eret slipped out of the closet but stayed out of view of the door, "Stole something pretty fucking valuable that's needed to possibly get us all out of here. At least with our current plan." It was all the information they were willing to give. 

Sam looked behind them and jumped slightly, then relaxed. They looked behind them to Wilbur, who decided to show back up, apparently deciding to trust the guy. "Hello, Sam!" He greeted in his usual Ghostbur way. 

"Hello Ghostbur, remember anything else today?" Sam asked. 

"No, not really." Wilbur floated through them into the room. That was a weird feeling and they decided they never wanted to feel it again. 

"Wilbur, I think. I think it's best if you just give the charade up. I mean people are gonna figure out and Dream now knows so there isn't any point." Eret said, turning their face towards Wilbur. 

The ghost's shoulders sagged a little and he responded "Yeah, you're right. Well it kept them safe for awhile."

Sam was looking between the two confused before something seemed to click, "Is Ghostbur a front?" He trailed off sounding a little annoyed. 

"Yeah," Wilbur nodded "I remember everything. It was to keep my family here and out of here safe. He can't threaten them if I showed that they didn't mean anything to me. But, Dream knows that it is a front now, so no point." 

"So, you lied to the entire world," Sam pointed at Wilbur, "And, how long have you known?" 

"Almost the entire time. I was able to tell almost instantly. I don't know why." They said truthfully. 

"Wilbur, do you know how many times Tommy came crying to me about how he hates that you didn't remember anything? About how much he hates that you're dead? About how much he hates that he couldn't stop it? About how much he hates that you don't remember your family? And, I came to find out that it wasn't even true?" Sam spoke quietly and with rage. He was looking directly at the ghost. 

Eret didn't know what to say. But, they knew the anger was going to be turned on them in a second. Because they had known about Wilbur and never said anything to anyone. Now, Wilbur looked shocked. Which was fair they were under the impression that only bad and maybe a few others knew who Sam was. Tommy was apparently one of them and had taken to Sam as a pseudo father figure. 

"No, I didn't know. Believe me if I could've told Tommy I would've, a long time ago. But, I was offered a chance to keep my family safe and so I did. Dream can't threaten them or hurt them if they have no significance to me. But, now he knows, so there isn't any point." Wilbur said meekly. 

"They still matter to Tommy. It doesn't matter if you don't. They still matter to someone who is alive and can impact the world. They were going to be threatened whether you did what you did or not. If anyone outside this prime-forsaken place even knows about it. It didn't keep anyone safe. In fact, all it did was cause more problems." Sam seemed to be making a hissing noise even after he had stopped chewing Wilbur out. 

"Sam, your hissing." Eret mentioned. 

Sam seemed to force himself to calm down and the hissing noise stopped. "And, Eret. Why didn't you tell anyone?" 

"I didn't know what was going on. Me and Wilbur have barely talked since he became a ghost before today. I thought when I originally found out he must have been doing it for a reason. I was too distracted when I found out why earlier to completely register what else could've happened because of it." They spoke quietly. 

"I- look why are you guys here? Don't you have a war that starts in a few days to prepare for?" Sam asked, clearly not happy with either of them. 

Wilbur shot them a look that said 'you explain.' 

Eret stared a Wilbur for a second before huffing in defeat. "We need a totem of undying," Sam looked up at them in surprise. "Bad is one of the only people on the server who had one. According to the book I have It should help me revive Wilbur so he can be more of a help in the war." 

"Totem. Revival. How wo-" Sam muttered and seemed to start thinking. Sam seemed like a smart guy and so far he had definitely proven trustworthy. 

They didn't know that, Tommy was… dealing like that. Aether, they should've known. They should've checked up on him and Tubbo a lot more often than they did. They were just kids and Eret hadn't even thought about the effects that Wilbur's death would've had on Tommy except maybe once or twice. Tommy was his brother, for aethers sake and they hadn't even. It made them feel shitty. 

"Can I see that book?" Sam suddenly asked. 

"Yeah, of course." Eret responded. They pulled it out of their inventory and handed it to Sam. Sam opened the book and began to look through it. 

What about Tubbo? He and Tommy were closer than ever now. Oh god. What the hell had happened during Tommy's exile? It had only lasted a few weeks but after that he was as clingy as ever to Tubbo. No one ever got told what happened and when they questioned Dream, they never got answers. Wilbur was there. What had Wilbur said, 'Because, Dream is a fucking master manipulator'? Oh my fucking god. They had dealt with Dreams manipulation firsthand and they had never considered the possibility that, And after Wilbur had... It sounded like… Oh, They felt like they were going to throw up. 

Eret blinked trying to ground themselves before pushing back bile to avoid throwing up. They looked at Wilbur who was just staring into the abyss. They'd like to think that it was about Tommy but they didn't know. Aether, when Tommy finds out that Wilbur was lying and that Eret knew. They were in for losing the trust they had just gained. But, it wasn't entirely their fault. They had assumed wrong and hadn't been told all the information needed. 

"So, You guys tried the first option already, right?" Sam looked up from the book and glanced at the both of them. He handed the book back to Eret and they put it in their inventory.

"Yeah, It didn't work. The second option was really more of a backup plan." Eret replied since they were the one Sam was obviously less mad at. 

"Well, we need to get you guys out of here. I unfortunately have some bad news. I helped design and build this house. Bad didn't want the windows to be able to open, so Eret you can't escape out the windows. Wilbur I'm not worried about, seeing as you just appeared I'm assuming that you can turn Invisible. Now we probably have about 30 minutes before Bad comes to check on me and to see if I'll be joining him and skeppy for dinner. We have that much time to make a plan to get you guys out as soon as possible." Sam explained.

They both nodded. "So, if you went to Dinner with them, I could theoretically get out while you distract them." They mused. 

"Yeah, but having spent much more time around Skeppy than you have, I know that he has ears like a hawk. Not literally but, he can hear like one. No, he shouldn't be able to hear this conversation, the rooms are soundproof. And, he was across the house last I checked." Sam informed them.

"Is skeppy a hybrid, or did he get cursed or something else?" Eret asked. 

"Skeppy…" Sam seemed to struggle to find the right words. "Skeppy is...I'm going to be honest I don't know what skeppy is." 

"So, with the soundproof rooms, do you think I could manage to get out if I took off my shoes and walked really quietly?" They suggested. 

"What if I turn invisible and show up and talk with you, bad and skeppy? I could put on the persona of Ghostbur one last time and cause a distraction so Eret could get out." Wilbur gestured towards them. 

"That could work. You have to have a reason to be there though, otherwise bad would be suspicious. Why would you need to talk to me or them that couldn't wait until morning?" Sam pondered. 

"Honestly, I can't think of a reason and Bad would be suspicious even If I had a reason with war upon us." Wilbur said. 

That left them with figuring out what would happen after they were out. Would Sam follow them or would he stay and leave later? There were so many ways this could go. Their communicator buzzed, it was probably tubbo. They opened chat and clicked on the Whisper from tubbo. 

_**Tubbo** : where are you and ghostbur_

_**The_Eret** : don't worry, we'll be back within an hour or so_

They felt bad about not telling Tubbo everything right then but he would know everything later. They closed the chat and looked back up at Sam and Wilbur, who were talking about possible excuses. Eret remembered something, what had Skeppy replied when they killed Dream?

They turned on the communicator again, and scrolled back on the main chat. They looked at the message skeppy had sent in response to Dream dying. Yeah, skeppy had liked the idea that Dream could die. 

"Eret, we have a plan." Sam said, turning towards them. 

Eret nodded their head in response, "Do you know what side Skeppy is on? Because he seems pretty loyal to Bad, but earlier he seemed to like the idea that Dream was In fact Mortal." 

"Skeppy… is a hard to explain guy. I didn't know him before this, but I do know in regards to canon lives, you're not killing Bad fully unless you kill skeppy. One of the first things they did when they got here was bind their lives. Bad is a demon, we all know that, but using that bad made it so that he only loses a life if Skeppy does. Which is why they've been working together." Sam finished. 

"So, they'd never participate in a war where they would be on different sides?" Eret asked for clarification.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed. 

A knock. Didn't Sam say they were going to check up on him after 30 minutes? Not 10?

They immediately retreated back into the closet quietly, closing the door behind them. They assumed Wilbur just disappeared. They held their breath. They didn't know if Bad or Skeppy was out there. But, if it was skeppy it wouldn't matter. He might have been close enough to hear their heartbeat anyway. 

They heard the bedroom door open, "Yeah?" Sam's voice rang out.

"Dinners ready. We're having soup." Bad's voice sounded cheerful. 

"Okay, I'm coming." Soft footsteps were heard and then a door closing. 

They exhaled. "Wilbur, what did you guys decide to do?" They hoped that the Ghost was still handing around to tell them. 

"Basically we decided to do the basic approach. Sam's going to talk to them. I'm going to create a disturbance away from you and then you are going to get out then when they go investigate. We should wait about 5 minutes before we execute the plan." Wilbur explained, not returning to being visible, but they assumed he was somewhere to their right. 

"Okay, we can do this." 

Eret waited quietly. They had done a lot of waiting that day. They wondered what they were talking about wherever the dining room was. Hopefully, Sam wouldn't fold under pressure. They hadn't known the guy long, but he gave off this sense of peace and something else they couldn't place. Whatever it was, both they hadn't felt in a long time. 

"Eret, I'm about to go do the distraction. 30 seconds from now, is when you need to move. You have at most a few minutes that should be a good amount of time." Wilbur's voice showed up again and then promptly disappeared. 

They opened the closet door and waited behind the actual door that opened to the rest of the house. 

25 seconds. 

What would Wilbur do?

20 seconds. 

It would have to be a pretty big thing to get them all investigating even if one knew it was going to happen. 

15 seconds. 

**Wither the door.**

10 seconds. 

They had an itch to wither something. They had suppressed the worst of it for so long and it was now coming back full force. 

5 seconds.

They didn't have time to think about it, they had to escape in… 

3...  
2..  
1.

They opened the door right as a large crash echoed from across the house. They could ignore the fact that there was no longer a handle for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We should get another person's p.o.v. next chapter. Because, plot. 
> 
> I also figured out basic mechanics of editing text on ao3, so if you do a reread it will look a little different. Only minor changes though.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They tried to wither him by placing their hand on his. They really needed to remember that they could do that and that they were no longer hiding their identity. But, Their vision was fading and their knees buckled. "Wha-" their voice sounded slurred. It felt like they were complete on the floor now, just lying there. Their eyes slipped shut, and the last thing they saw was bad peering into their eyes, the same type of eyes as theirs, white and glowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: manipulation mentions, panic attack, kidnapping, cursing (I am so sorry, I forgot this when I first posted it)
> 
> Hi, hello, how are you. 
> 
> Another chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy :)))

Sam tapped his foot nervously under the table. He knew Gho-Wilburs distraction was going to happen any minute now. They were having soup that night. It was good soup, Bad knew how to cook well. It consisted of mainly root vegetables and just a hint of spice. Bads style of cooking. Bad and Skeppy had been talking about what they had done that day since, apparently Skeppy had been somewhere else most of the day. 

"So, Sam. I'll cut to the chase. Who were you talking to earlier? I don't recall anyone else being in the house." Skeppy abruptly asked. 

"What? What do you mean?" He responded, on guard. He could get out of this depending on how much skeppy had heard.

"I overheard an interesting conversation earlier. Something about a Certain Ghost not actually being who we thought he was. Some minor betrayal and war plans." Skeppy was tracing circles in his soup, while bad was glancing between the two of them looking agitated and slightly offended. 

Oh, he heard a bunch of it. That was not good. That was when Wilbur decided to do his distraction. A large crash rang from upstairs and Bad immediately got up heading for where it came from. 

"No, Bad! It's a distraction!" Skeppy called out. 

Bad stopped and stayed near the door. Shit, he couldn't open his comm to warn Eret before they pulled weapons on him. He wouldn't be much help dead or captured.

"Skeppy, I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't talking to anyone." Sam was trying to stay as calm as possible. He looked Skeppy straight in the eye, whose eyes seemed to be glowing a faint greenish color. Something you wouldn't notice, unless you looked directly at him. What the hell? Was that something that Skeppy could do normally?

"Skeppy, what exactly did you hear?" Bad asked now standing a step closer to them both. 

"What I heard was, Ghostbur was not Ghostbur, but in fact Wilbur who remembered everything and that he and I'm assuming, Eret. That's who it sounded like. They had a plan to resurrect Wilbur with Bad's totem. And, that you were planning to help them. Along with possible war plans." Skeppy recounted. 

"Sam. You betrayed us. After everything we've been through together. You'd just leave the Badlands in the dust." Bad now looked clearly offended and was holding a hand to his chest. 

"We both know I've never been interested in hurting Children and people I don't have a reason to hurt." Sam said coldly. 

Skeppy glanced towards the exit. "Oh, that must be Eret!" He said loudly, probably making sure they heard him. 

Sam glanced around the room as Bad poked his head out the doorway. Bad ran out and after Eret while Skeppy stayed and made sure he didn't leave the room. What made skeppy dangerous was that he knew nothing about what he could do. He seemed to be doing something based on his eyes, but Sam didn't know what. He sighed and eventually resigned to the fact that they were all going to have to find a different way out. It was shaping up to be one a hell of a night.

xxx

Eret was trying to get as quickly through the house as possible. It was pretty big, and they had almost gotten lost. They saw the Front door past an open door room with lights on. They assumed that it was the Dining room and that it was vacant. 

They assumed wrong, because a few meters away from passing it, a voice that belonged to skeppy called out, "Oh, that must be Eret!" They froze.

What the fuck? How did skeppy know that they were here? He wasn't supposed to be in there. Then bad poked his head out the door. They turned and ran. They only made it a few more meters before they felt Bad touch their shoulder and say something in a language they didn't know. 

They tried to wither him by placing their hand on his. They really needed to remember that they could do that and that they were no longer hiding their identity. But, Their vision was fading and their knees buckled. "Wha-" their voice sounded slurred. It felt like they were complete on the floor now, just lying there. Their eyes slipped shut, and the last thing they saw was bad peering into their eyes, the same type of eyes as theirs, white and glowing. 

xxx

They didn't know what time it was when they woke but they weren't on the bed In Snowchester so they hadn't died. Instead, they were in a dark room, without windows, the only light was coming from the top and the bottom of the door. Maybe they were in another closet. Didn't feel like it though, the floor and the wall they were resting against were hard and uncomfortable. Probably cobblestone or andesite. There was another figure slumped against the wall to their left.

They no longer had their cloak, so bad probably took it. The room was cold, they would've preferred to have it. But, they supposed they didn't have much choice, having been unconscious. Something else of theirs was missing but they couldn't tell what it was. It was just a feeling of wrongness. 

What the hell had bad done to them? Now that they thought about it, why didn't they just wither him? It would've been simpler and would've saved them a lot of time. Oh god, they had told tubbo they would be back soon. They tried to move their hands to access their communicator but they couldn't move them. They tried their best to look behind themself before catching a glimpse of rope that they hadn't felt. Their hands were tied and behind their back no less. That was annoying, but a simple fix. They tried to wither the ropes. 

The rope refused and stayed put. They accidentally wither a Iron door handle earlier and they couldn't wither some ropes? Frustrated they tried to get a better look at the ropes. The rope was shining so it wasn't enchanted with Unbreaking. Why wouldn't the r-. Wait.

"They wouldn't." Eret muttered. They tried to touch their sweater and did. They willed it to wither. Their blood ran cold when it didn't. 

"Oh my Aether they did." They tried to summon an explosion but to no avail. Bad had done something to stop their wither abilities. Oh aether, how? How had he done that? Was it even possible? I mean clearly it was but still. Why?

The other person stirred and Eret decided it was probably Sam. The figure did seem pretty tall despite being hunched over. His hands seemed to be tied behind his back as well. The eyes snapped open and looked around the room frantically. Barely visible Red dots darting around. 

"Eret?" Sam asked. 

"Yeah, I'm here. What the hell happened?" They responded. 

"Skeppy heard us talking. I don't know how. I was positive neither of them heard us. Are you not wearing your sunglasses?" Sam said slowly. 

"What?" They said abruptly. 

Did bad take their glasses too? They couldn't really feel anything, but they weren't giving off a glow from their eyes so they had to be wearing their glasses. But, how would've Sam been able to tell from over there. It was practically pitch black, unless he could see the light coming out from the sides. 

They closed their eyes just in case and asked "Sam could you see my eyes?"

"Yeah, I think. There was white light from around where your eyes would be. It was really dim." Sam answered. 

They took a deep breath in and out. Trying to calm themselves down. That's what was missing their sunglasses. They would've noticed because their eyes gave off a glow usually but according to Sam they weren't. Maybe, it was a side effect of whatever bad did to them. Yeah, it had to be. 

Regardless, they wore the sunglasses all the time and it was unsettling to not have them. And, frankly making them panic. 

~~Sam had seen their eyes.~~

"Hey, Eret it's okay. Everything's going to be okay." Sam said in a comforting tone. Had he picked up on their distress?

They didn't need comfort. They were fine. They had gone a few days before without their sunglasses before. They would be fine. Everything would be fine. Albeit they didn't see anyone during those times and weren't expecting anyone. 

"I'm fine, Sam." The words came out a little more shaky than Eret intended. 

"Eret your clearly not fi-" 

"I'm fine. I swear." They interrupted. 

~~Why did Sam care so much?~~

"Eret. It's going to be fine. I know what Bad did. It's a thing that suppresses hybrids power and sometimes like in your case hybrid features since you can hide yours. You can't conceal your eyes so they're just dimmer. I'm assuming mine are dimmer too." Sam explained calmly. 

What, when did they tell Sam that they could conceal their traits? 

"I never told you I could hide my hybrid traits. How do you know that?" Eret asked, forcibly slowing down their breathing. 

"You didn't. I assumed since I had seen you before without them and when I saw you today, you did have them." Sam seemed almost a natural at this. As if he had to, calm down panicking people all the time. 

Then, again he probably had to calm Tommy down a number of times. 

"So, I'm guessing you know what type of hybrid I am now." Eret tried for a joke. Their voice was quiet and fragile though. 

There had been a reason they didn't share their status. And, that was how rare the mob was in general. You had to spawn it in and it was incredibly deadly. The enderdragon was deadly, but at least it was naturally spawning. The moment people found out, they generally made assumptions that they were aggressive, destructive and evil. People made assumptions because wither hybrids were rare and practically No one had met one.

They were lucky Puffy looked past things like that and made an assumption on someone based on their personality. And, They would never use their abilities for evil, it just wasn't in their nature. They had a hard enough time figuring out how the hell they even existed. 

Their parents hadn't been hybrids much less wither hybrids. They weren't supposed to genetically. 

"Yeah, I have a couple of guesses," Sam eventually answered. "But, if you don't want to tell me you don't have to." 

Eret wanted to cry. They were angry and frustrated about the situation they were in. They never wanted to be a part of the games, Dream was playing, yet he managed to force his control over them and they had hurt some of the only people who cared about them. 

They wanted to cry, to finally let their emotions out, rather than keeping them bottled up for weeks on end. Because bottles overflow, and theirs was so close to overflowing. 

They wanted to cry because Sam was acting like a father figure. Something they hadn't had in a long time. The genuine concern of a father. It felt comforting but they didn't want to give their trust blindly to someone they had only met hours before. 

"I'm a wither hybrid. By all genetics, I am not supposed to exist. My parents weren't hybrids and neither were theirs. Doesn't help that withers are scary as shit to most and people have never met a wither hybrid. So, they don't really react kindly. I can't exactly expect most people who aren't hybrids to even react well to a regular type hybrid like a cat or goat," Eret started to go off on a little tangent.

"I mean, I'm lucky that where I lived was mainly filled with hybrids and people who weren't were more rare. Most assumed I was an enderman hybrid because I was tall and I hid my eyes. So, no one asked and when they did I would just respond that it wasn't important. Still, people fear the Unknown. And, I can't exactly help if I don't know how this happened either." They sucked in a breath, from just talking not really breathing. 

"I get how you feel. Obviously I haven't experienced it to the extent you have but people are really wary with Creeper hybrids. They expect me to blow up when I get too close to them or something. It's actually something I can control. It's basically suicide if I do it though. I'd blow up the surrounding 5 blocks and myself along with it. I'd respawn but still it hurts." Sam explained his own troubles with his hybrid status. 

"I can wither things and explode things. It's mainly a power in my hands. I didn't use it really at all here until today. I was told by Dream a lot that 'I had to control the Impulses. To never act on them,'" Eret put that in quotation marks, "I usually ignored it anyway, but I wasn't even allowed to go and release the buildup of power this time around.

"It was around Tommy's exile, when Dream was off manipulating him instead of me," Eret thought they heard Sam whisper 'That green motherfucker' but dismissed it, "When, I finally realized, now that it wasn't happening almost every day, That it wasn't normal. It wasn't okay and I needed to do something about it. I should've acted sooner than today or yesterday maybe, but I didn't have the guts until then. Mainly, because the day before I needed an outlet and badly. He threatened Tubbos last life and that's kinda what pushed me over the edge." They didn't mean to dump their trauma on Sam, but that's what ended up happening. 

"Prime, I'm sorry Eret. I've been reluctantly working with Dream, if we're sharing stuff." Eret looked at him in panic. Had they shared that to the wrong person? Oh god, Dream was going to know a lot more than they would've liked him to know.

"I didn't want to. Y'know that big obsidian box? I've been building it. It's a prison that Dream commissioned me to make. He paid me in a stack of Netherite blocks. That's the only reason I did it. It's a shit ton of resources that would help in the inevitable last war." Sam explained hurriedly. 

"How do I know you're not lying?" They asked. 

"Do I seem like a liar?" 

"Dream didn't either." Eret said quietly. 

A momentary bout of silence.

"That's fair, but I'm telling the truth. I have it in my ender chest. I thought Dream didn't know about your hybrid status." Sam questioned. 

"It didn't seem like he knew exactly what I was. I think he knew that I had destructive abilities, but not exactly what. He didn't want me to use them, so he never found out. I think he might have thought that I was a Wither skeleton hybrid earlier during our fight. Not a wither hybrid. Do you miss anyone?" They asked, glancing over at the other who was now leaning against their wall and staring at the door as well. Deciding they might as well get to know their possible ally if they were going to be stuck together.

"Yeah, my friend Ponk. We've known each for forever and never really go anywhere without each other, telling the other where we're going, or staying in touch with comms. No matter where we were. I don't know how he's been doing, but I miss him. You?" 

"My friend Puffy. She was one of the first people I met that even after I revealed my hybrid status stayed friends with me. On the premises of, 'I've judged you based on how you act. You act nothing like the stereotypes that have been given to with hybrids.' It made me think that maybe there are nice people out there and maybe I should try and educate them on rare hybrids. She had a couple of siblings that she hadn't seen in years. One she hadn't seen since he was a toddler or maybe a little older, so he probably doesn't remember her." Their thoughts wander to what Wilbur had said earlier. 

That schlatt had siblings he hadn't seen in awhile. Maybe, it was a coincidence. But with sheep and rams being incredibly similar and both sides of what they had heard lining up. It probably wasn't considering their luck. But, that left the question who was the third? 

"Wilbur told me earlier that schlatt had siblings that he hadn't seen in awhile. Two of them to be exact. Do you think that maybe…" They trailed off. 

"Maybe, depends what type of hybrid Puffy is." Sam mused.

"She's a sheep. Schlatts a Ram. It just lines up to be true." 

"Your right, we should have them meet after all of this or ask if Schlatt ever knew someone named Puffy. Who do you think would be the third sibling?" 

"Well it would have to be someone younger than them." Eret stifled a yawn. They were tired for some reason. Maybe, it was a side effect of the thing. 

"Hey, thanks. For letting me vent and talk and all that." They said genuinely thankful. 

"No problem Eret. You look tired. Get some sleep, if I remember correctly," Sam yawned, "the thing bad did takes a lot of energy out of you." 

Eret nodded tiredly, before realizing Sam probably couldn't see them. "Yeah, I noticed." 

Sam let out a small chuckle at that. The effects of sleep started to overcome them and they slipped into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're amazing and wonderful. Remember to drink water.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "That'd be fine. I plan to sit here and wait while you sleep." Tommy promptly sat down next to him and stared at the door. 
> 
> Tubbo let out a small snort and softly headbutted his friend in response. 
> 
> "Go to bed." Tommy complained, pushing him away towards the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: talk of manipulation, cursing, death, murder, weapons
> 
> This is the longest chapter yet. In case you aren't able to tell later, I'm not the best at writing in Tubbos perspective. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!! :D

Tubbo was anxious. Eret had promised to be back several hours ago. He had been sitting near the door, in the main cabin since he finished working on the fireworks. He noticed almost immediately that Eret and Wilbur were nowhere to be found. He searched all of Snowchester and couldn't find them. Tommy had arrived back with Quackity, Sapnap, Karl, and Ranboo a few hours before. They were all staying in one of the guest cabins except Ranboo who had his own cabin. The enderman hybrid switched between staying with Karl and them, and him and Tommy frequently. 

The others had pretty much adopted Ranboo as as their child. Which made him miss his dad. Not really his dad, but he had all but adopted him legally. Everyone else thought he was his child. He wanted to leave, like everyone else. Everyone wanted to get out of here. 

He heard the door of the cabin open, his ear flicked towards it in response. He looked over. It was Tommy who looked at him concerned. 

"Eret not back, yet?" Tommy asked.

"No," he shook his head, "Not responding either. The only response I have from them is that he and Wilbur would be back soon. That was several hours ago at this point. Wait, I already told you that. Sorry." 

"It's fine. You look tired, You need sleep, Big T. How about shifts? You go to sleep and If Eret shows back up while you're sleeping I'll wake you up. Or, I'll wake you up in a few hours for your shift. But, we both know some sleep is better than none. That and I'm basically nocturnal now and can't sleep myself." Tommy rambled. 

"Yeah, what if I sleep on the bed In here?" Tubbo asked, glancing at the bed at the far side of the wall. 

"That'd be fine. I plan to sit here and wait while you sleep." Tommy promptly sat down next to him and stared at the door. 

Tubbo let out a small snort and softly headbutted his friend in response. 

"Go to bed." Tommy complained, pushing him away towards the bed. 

Tubbo got up and walked over to the bed where he flopped down. He couldn't sleep though. As much as he wanted to he wasn't tired. So, that left him to his thoughts. 

He had missed Eret for a long time, but the ex-king was always busy. He had forgiven Eret awhile back, right before the election actually. Wilbur still didn't trust Eret so he didn't want to betray Wilbur by 'conspiring' with a traitor. 

It was strange, he betrayed Schlatt by conspiring with a traitor, but for the very same reason he stayed loyal to Wilbur. Who lost it and was now dead, maybe to never return. 

When Schlatt called him out on it, at least no one listened when they were asked to execute him. Quackity ended up doing it, by threat of him being the next. He knows he wasn't supposed to hear that but he did. So, Quackity blew him up with color. The other had apologized so much after when he left the white house. He remembered Sapnap and Karl explaining how much Quackity genuinely hated that he did that and how much time he spent thinking over it.

Tubbo should've been expecting that though. He should've known it was just a matter of time before Schlatt found out. 

Tubbo missed a lot of things and had gotten used to others. Some of them were not good things to get used to. Like the constant fighting, before today the world had a brief bit of peace. But, he didn't mind the idea of this specific war, what they were fighting for this time was going to be worth it. 

He missed his life before all this. When he would start petty fights with Tommy over little things and they would explore. How once they found a snake and Tommy kept it until Techno found out. They learned that day, That one of the few things The Blade was scared of was Snakes. Phil made them put it back out into nature.

Tubbo unfortunately kept track of time well, he knew how long it had been since then. He didn't like that he knew. He knew that he had joined the world, unwilling, when he was 14 a few months before his 15th Birthday. Now, he was going to turn 17 in just a couple of weeks. He knew exactly what day it was, December 14. It was surreal.

Dream had taken away so much from him. 

Dream had caused so much suffering. For so many people.

He didn't want to think, right now. He just wanted to talk to someone. 

"Hey, Tommy?" Tubbo called out turning over towards the door. 

"Yeah?" 

"We've been here for more than 2 years. I'm only a couple of weeks from turning Seventeen."

Tommy's face looked sad, and he sighed. "Yeah. Life sucks ass here. I honestly want dibs on taking Dreams last life, so we can get out of here. It'd be like getting closure on everything he's done. He can't hurt me, you, or anyone else ever again. No one deserves that." 

Tubbo nodded and said, "I think everyone wants dibs on it. He caused us all some amount of pain and suffering."

They were both silent before Tommy asked, "Hey, I noticed someone took Wills coat and beanie. Also, they took my old L'manburg flag and a bit of my gold. D'you Know anything about that?"

"No, I don't." They slipped back into the not so comfortable silence.

"Do you miss your dad and Techno?" Tubbo asked, breaking said silence.

"Yeah, I do. They were a pain, but they are my family. And, I miss them a lot. A lot more than I'd care to admit. I don't think they're gonna react well when they find out Wilbur died here." Tommy admitted. 

"I miss the life we had before. I think we both know that we aren't coming out of here unscathed. One of us or both is probably going to die during the final battle. We both only have one life left. If we die, will we even be able to leave? We don't know if ghosts can leave here." Tubbo sat up and ran a hand through his hair, his right ear twitching slightly. 

It was all frustrating and tiring. He was getting tired of being the one who always had to keep others afloat. What about his emotions? He had shit to deal with too. His best friend got manipulated to the point that it took several weeks to trust him again, and not have him fall back on old habits. And to top it off, it had managed to happen in a short span of a few weeks. It made his heart break when he saw the shell of a person he had caused his best friend to become. The fact that it wasn't even everything the two had faced since being here sent his gut plummeting.

"I hope ghosts can leave. It would be pretty lonely here if they couldn't. They'd just be stuck here for all eternity." Tommy brought his knees to his chest. 

Tubbo sighed. "Toms I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure we'll find a way to get Wil out of here. We've managed to get out of impossible situations before." 

"Prime, I hope so. Last thing I want to do is explain to our parents that Wilbur is dead and never coming back. Let alone that he didn't even remember them after he died." Tommy's ears flattened.

They were both silent for as long as it took tubbo to count to six, then he asked, "Wanna play uno?"

He saw Tommy's ears perk up and Tommy responded with "You know I do." 

Tubbo let out a small laugh and got up. 

xxx

Eret winced slightly as they moved their back, their face contorting into a grimace. Sleeping on stone hurt a lot and it was taking its toll. Didn't help that they couldn't move their hands to a more comfortable position. Blinking their eyes open sluggishly, they glanced over at Sam who was still asleep. 

Aether, how long were they going to be stuck in here? It had most likely been 10-ish hours, probably more since they got knocked out and put in here. 

Would wilbur be hanging around? They hoped not. They hoped that Wilbur had gone and gotten help. But, They were bored and there was no telling how long they'd be here. 

"Wilbur?" They whispered into the air. 

After a minute of no reply, they sighed. They weren't really surprised but it would've been nice to talk to someone so they were at least doing something. They stared at their shoes. Were they forgetting something? They felt like they were. 

Oh fuck. 

The materials for the ritual most of them except for the gold, and the totem were still just sitting in L'manburg. Somehow they had forgotten to pick them up. Hopefully, Fundy hadn't gone back and taken them. Not having the materials would seriously fuck some things up. Including most of the plans, well the plan, they had currently. 

"Hey, Eret." They jumped a bit at hearing someone else's voice and looked around. 

"Wilbur? Why are you still hanging around here?" Eret asked, to the empty space in front of them.

The ghost flicked into existence near the door. "Well, I stayed for a couple hours and when I noticed you two were probably not going to wake up anytime soon I decided to go get help," 

Eret let a small smile show on their face before Wilbur continued, "Problem, it started raining and has been since." Eret let out a groan and the smile dropped off their face. 

"Seriously? Our luck had been shit all day. What time is it even?" They huffed. 

"It's around 4 or 5 a.m. on the 15th of December." Wilbur answered. 

"It's December?" Eret looked at the Ghost incredulously. Though they looked back down quickly, remembering they didn't have their sunglasses.

"Yep. I knew you were bad with dates and all but holy shit, this is a new level Eret. There was snow and it was freezing in Snowchester and you didn't make the guess that it was Winter." Wilbur commented.

"Wilbur I barely left the Castle, and when I did it was to go to the Nether. Yesterday was the first time I had seen Snowchester. I didn't know if it was a yearlong type of weather or not." Eret explained. 

They looked over at Sam, who seemed to slowly but surely, waking up. "I didn't know that." Wilbur sounded surprised. 

"Most didn't." Was all they said in response. 

They glanced at the door which seemed brighter than earlier. As if there was more light than before. They turned their head slightly and kept their focus on the door. 

"Eret what happened at the cas-" 

Eret shushed Wilbur, focusing on the light.

The light was getting brighter, getting closer to the point where they could see with ease. They turned their head towards the wall near Sam, which they now recognized as cobblestone, faint light showed on it. 

They closed their eyes and tried to wither the ropes. 

Nothing. 

They waited a few seconds and tried again. The feeling of the ropes disappeared. 

They opened their eyes and brought their hands out in front of them. Their wrists had rope burns and felt raw, but it didn't hurt badly. It was just a dull throbbing. They let out a laugh and muttered, "It worked. Of course it would have a time limit. But, Sam didn't know the time limit. He just told me all he knew." 

They stood up trembling slightly from their legs being asleep and steadied themself on the wall behind them. They studied the door which was an Iron door, not surprising. They couldn't remember if they could wither Iron doors, but they could probably blow it up if needed. They didn't know their limits anymore, but they knew they wouldn't reach them by the time they got out. 

Since, It seemed to be a time sensitive thing, Bad had to know that it would be wearing off sometime soon and come to redo whatever it was. They wanted to message Tubbo that they were fine, but they didn't have time. They had to wake Sam up and now.

"Hey, so are the eyes the reason you wear sunglasses?" Wilbur asked, studying their eyes. 

"Now is not the time Wilbur, but the short answer is yes. Can you see if you can get out of here in case we can't get out of here on our own?" 

"Yeah, I'll go do that." Wilbur vanished. 

They walked over and crouched next to Sam, and put their hand on his shoulder, focusing on not withering his ally. That would be very bad. They shook his shoulder, whispering "Sam. Sam, you need to wake up." 

The creeper hybrid woke up abruptly and pulled away. He visibly relaxed when he noticed who it was. 

"Sam, it ran out. You need to get up, I don't think we have much time." 

"Well, while you can get up. It's hard to get up while my hands are still tied." Sam deadpanned groggily. 

Eret was going to say something witty or sarcastic in response, but Sam made a fair point. So, they stayed quiet. They helped Sam move away from the wall, so they could get to his hands. They quickly Withered the ropes, and Sam moved his hands to in front of him, rubbing his wrists. 

"So, you have a plan?" Sam asked as they helped him up. 

"Enough of one. Either we wait until Bad checks on us, because he has to know it's a timed thing and would need to redo it by coming in here. Then, we kill him or at least immobilize him and make our escape. The other option is for me to blow up the door and we run for it. No guarantees with that one since I don't know where Bad would be when I did it." Eret whispered, leading Sam towards the door and out of view. 

"I could always just blow up the door. It's a guarantee and-" Sam started. 

"You're not sacrificing yourself for me." Eret interrupted. 

"Then, we're going with the first plan." Sam slipped over to the other side of the door. 

They stayed quiet and waited. Erets heart was beating quickly. They knew that Bad or Skeppy, but mostly likely bad, could enter at any moment. 

"Hey, " Eret jumped, "Sorry, so it's still raining but it's slowed down so I think it's gonna stop soon.

Sam was looking around the room for Wilbur. "Sam, he can turn himself invisible. I don't know where he is either." They murmured. 

"Oh, yeah. Bads, gonna show up at this door in less than 30 seconds. Thought I'd warn you." Wilbur whispered to them both. 

Sam and them exchanged glances and prepared themselves. They heard the faint sound of boots hitting the ground and getting louder. 

It kept getting louder, until it stopped right outside the door. They heard a jangle of keys and one being fit into the door. They tensed ready to run or wither someone depending on what side the door swung. 

The door unlocked and it opened outward not into the room. The Demon stepped into the room, his shadow obvious in the light from the door. They struck their hand out, touching Bads ashy grey skin and willing him to wither away. 

He did but not before turning towards them looking surprised. Probably not expecting them to be awake. Both them and Sam got a notification on their communicators.

Sam was looking at them in a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and something else. They waved their hand to follow as they bolted out of the room. They heard the footsteps of Sam behind them and took a look ahead of them. It seemed like a maze of hallways, they turned left. 

"No, not that way!" Sam called out. 

They turned to see Sam standing in the hallway going right. 

"You know this place?" They said panting. 

"Helped build it. They probably have the stuff they took from you and put my stuff in a room up here." Sam stopped at a door and opened it walking in briskly. 

Eret followed, the first thing they noticed was Sam being held at sword point by skeppy. They reached out and withered the sword before doing the same to the owner. Who didn't get a word out. 

They looked around the room silently skimming over a small pile of items, before spotting their cloak with their sunglasses sitting on top. They quickly picked up the sunglasses and put them on sighing with relief. The familiar feel of the sunglasses calming them down slightly. They grabbed their cloak and put it on as well. Then, under the cloak sat their crown. Erets eyes widen at the sight of it. They had definitely destroyed it. Why was it here? How was it here? 

"Sam, can Bad replicate items that have been destroyed?" They asked. 

"Yeah, I think Dream can too. Why?" They responded sounding busy with something and their voice was slightly harder to hear than earlier. Eret dismissed it as distance and distraction.

"I destroyed my crown yesterday, but it's here. Perfectly intact." They explained. 

They heard footsteps behind them and Sam spoke, "Yeah, that's a perfectly intact crown. I say take it, I'm pretty sure you made your point to dream that you're done being his king yesterday. He wouldn't have done this and I don't think Bad even knew you were king. There the only ones on the server that I know are capable of that. It has to be here for a reason." 

Sam went back to what he was doing. His voice did sound quieter than before. They stared at the crown for a second before picking it up and putting it in their inventory. 

They turned to see, Sam putting a golden circlet. The creeper also had a gas mask that seemed complicated and was probably what he was struggling with. It also explained why his voice sounded muffled.

"Exits this way. I have no clue where they put our armor, but it's not in there." Sam led them through the maze. 

They hadn't even noticed their armor was gone, probably because it had been pitch black practically. It was good armor too. They now saw a door in front of Sam that had windows revealing that it was in fact Night. It didn't seem like it was raining anymore. 

Sam opened the door and stepped into the night air. Eret stepped out behind him. The area was heavily wooded by birch trees and the grass was wet. Evidence it had been raining. They took a deep breath and focused on their next task. Getting Wilbur finally resurrected and heading back to Snowchester. 

They began to follow Sam as they had no clue where they were. Sam led them through the trees with ease. They heard leaves rustle and they looked up. Figures darted by in the trees before one dropped in front of them and held an intricately designed, gleaming, Netherite axe to their throat. If it was a different situation they would've commented the design and how well kept it was. But, it was not the time.

It was Skeppy.

They heard a yelp of surprise behind them and a snarled "Quiet." In the voice of Bad.

"Hey boys. Why you out here?" Skeppy asked, tilting his head to the side with glowing green eyes that matched Fundys. 

They were right. 

Skeppy was not doing this willingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated the Tw to include weapons, and in one chapter specificly knives. It's a small thing but I felt like I should do it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have been causing us some trouble, Eret. You got Sam to turn to your side when he's been loyal to us and Dream the entire time he's been here." Skeppy started. 
> 
> "Maybe, he did it on his own." Eret wheezed as Skeppy pushed his foot down harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: weapons, death, mentions of an ED, cursing, scars from explosions 
> 
> E. It's the Sixteenth.
> 
> Enjoy chapter!!

Eret took hold of the axe and said, "We don't want a repeat incident do we?" In the most serious tone they could muster. Which was a weak one, they were terrified. 

Skeppy took the axe away from their neck and shoved them to the ground, ripping the axe out of their grip. Skeppy was a lot stronger than he looked or maybe it was adrenaline. They looked at Sam, who was being held by Bad with a Netherite sword at his throat. Particles flickered on it, which made them think it had flame on it. Which meant it could burst into flame at any second. They tried to get up but Skeppy put his foot on their chest and held the axe at their throat yet again. 

"You have been causing us some trouble, Eret. You got Sam to turn to your side when he's been loyal to us and Dream the entire time he's been here." Skeppy started. 

"Maybe, he did it on his own." Eret wheezed as Skeppy pushed his foot down harder. 

Fuck, this hurt. They really didn't want to kill Skeppy again especially if he was under control, but it seemed they would have to. They tentatively reached out for the axe. 

"Nuuh, none of that shit," Skeppy didn't even move but their arm was forced back down. "You see Eret. You were a pawn under Dream, you could've stayed one and joined him in the final battle. But, no you had to instigate it and now it's here sooner than it needs to be." 

Eret replied, "You fucker, we all know that if it happened later, more of us would be dead and none of us would have a chance to leave. And, I know you're there, Skeppy."

Their choice of words probably confused Sam but they weren't worried about it. But, bad wasn't even saying language in repose to the cursing, which did worry them. No matter the situation, bad would always take up an opportunity to say it. They tried to move their arm again, but found it wouldn't move. They didn't like that. Maybe, if they could turn their hand up and blow him up? No, that would kill them too.

_Eret, I'm losing control. Dream wants me to kill you, but my mental defenses are making it hard for him to control me. I have just enough control to avoid killing you. I have enough energy for one last burst of full control. I'm going to force myself back, you attack bad, get Sam and you run. Don't look back, just run._

They must've looked surprised because Bad narrowed his eyes at them. Which, They were surprised. Skeppy just talked to them in their mind. Did he have some kind of telekinesis powers? That would explain the restraining of his limbs and the talking in their mind. 

They looked at Sam who was focused on something, before hearing a hissing noise. Bad immediately said something in the language he had heard him speak yesterday. It might have been latin, or some other dead language. The hissing stopped and Sam's eyes opened, dimmed. He sighed. 

They looked back at Skeppy who seemed concentrated, "Bad, let Sam go." 

"What, why?" Bad sounded confused. 

"He can't do anything anyway, We don't need to hold him. Let him go." Skeppys voice sounded strained. 

They looked over at bad, who looked confused but let Sam go. Then, They felt the pressure on their chest go away and they scrambled up. They understood what they needed to do. They glanced at Skeppy who seemed to be holding on to a tree for dear life. He had an expression that was filled with pain. Like, it physically hurt him to do this.

Bad stepped in front of Sam quickly raising his sword ready to strike Eret down. Eret raised their hand and set off an explosion looking away, but not before the sword nicked the top of their shoulder. They didn't feel it hit any skin but it definitely went through their cloak at the very least. They looked back to a shocked Sam and no Bad. Good, it worked. Their communicator went off, the death message for Bad. With more buzzes following. They started running in the direction Sam had been leading them. Sam ran after them and quickly caught up, being a foot taller. He tapped their shoulder, and muttered "Follow me." 

They slowed down and ran after Sam staying a couple meters behind him, in case he abruptly stopped. They ran through the trees which were quite dense. The forest slowly began to become more oak than birch over the next few minutes of silence. Sam finally slowed down and walked out into a clearing behind Bad and Skeppys house. 

They looked at their shoulder examining what had happened. There was barely a scratch on their skin already fading away, but the sword had definitely gone through their cloak and sweater. Which was a shame, they really liked the cloak.

"Holy shit. Well, that just happened." Eret exhaled as they slowed to walking pace beside Sam.

"Well at least we now know that when skeppy uses whatever he has, his eyes glow green. We also have an idea of what he can do." Sam said, staring ahead thoughtfully. 

"No, they don't." Eret said knowing what it really meant.

"Eret, his eyes were glowing. I'm pretty su-" Sam turned their head towards them looking skeptical.

"No, that's not what I mean. I know his eyes were glowing. But, I saw Fundys' eyes glowing green earlier. He Looked exactly like Skeppy did. Wilbur helped me with his limited knowledge to figure out that they were being controlled. Mostly likely by Dream." Eret explained. 

"Oh. That's bad. That's really not good." Sam said slowly. 

"It really isn't." Eret agreed. 

"So, someone knows more about it so we can double-check right?" Sam asked. 

"Yeah, Wilbur told me Schlatt knew a lot about this type of stuff for no particular reason." Eret answered.

They walked around the house and followed along the side towards the front. 

"Prime. You guys are fast." Wilbur poofed into existence next to Eret, beginning to float along next to them. 

Their stomach rumbled. Which now that they thought about it, they hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours. That was probably not healthy but they used the time they had for lunch the previous day, to gather their weapons and stuff before killing Dream. They probably skipped lunch more than deemed a healthy amount of times. Which was none, they usually didn't eat lunch either way. They were always too busy.

Sam seemed to notice that they were hungry because he asked, "Hey you want some bread? I know you didn't eat at least dinner yesterday. So, you're probably starving right now." 

They looked over at Sam and hesitantly took the bread from the Creepers outstretched hand. They began to eat it in small bites, savoring it. It was good and It tasted like it had a hint of raspberries. One of Niki's favorite things to add to her baking. 

"Did you get this from Niki?" They asked Sam. 

"Yeah, she misses you. Says she's concerned about some of your habits actually." Sam said casually. 

They cringed internally and finished the bread. They did miss Niki and had Unintentionally been ignoring everyone for the past few months. Around the time of Tommy's exile, really. 

"Can you tell her she still makes really good bread?" They glanced at Sam. 

"You should tell her, yourself. I know where she's living right now and I plan to go get her after I help you with your resurrection. If she hasn't been corrupted yet, I'll bring her to Snowchester. Which I'm assuming is basically the base of operations right now." Sam answered. 

Wilbur seemed to be listening intently to their conversation and was now floating, laying on his back, above them both. "Hey, so we left most of the materials at L'manburg. Do you reckon Fundy took them or do you think they'll still be there?" 

"No telling. It could be gone, it could still be there. We'll have to find out. And, yes Sam Snowchester is the base of operations right now. Last I checked Tommy was off to get Quackity and his group." Eret replied.

"Oh was Ranboo in Snowchester or were they with Quackity and them this week?" Sam asked. 

What Sam said confused Eret. Who was Ranboo? And, why were they switching between places? 

Eret must have looked confused because Sam began explaining what Ranboo looked like, "He's around 6'6'', Half enderman, half something else we don't know. Ringing any bells?" 

"Sam, I've never even heard the name Ranboo, let alone meet someone named that. Who are they?" 

Sam looked at them concerned, "Ranboo's been here since the beginning like the rest of us. I don't know what they were up to before Wilbur died but that's around when he started involving himself in stuff. Their friends with both Tommy and Tubbo. Do you seriously not know who he is?" 

"No. Never heard the name before right now, let alone see anyone like that." Eret admitted. 

They were now walking up the steps that led to the Prime path. This Ranboo fellow seemed interesting. They were a few inches taller than Eret and from the sound of it not cis as well. Sam had used he/they pronouns for him and talked fondly of the other. Which made Eret think that Sam was just an Impromptu father figure for all who needed it. Especially the children of the world. 

"Sam I just want to check since I don't want to misgender Ranboo when I meet them, what are their pronouns? If it's fine for me to ask." 

"Ranboo uses he/they pronouns and yes it's fine for you to know." Sam answered. 

Wilbur had been uncharacteristically silent pretty much since their original talk with Sam. Which was fair, he had gotten chewed out and was left to contemplate what he had done. He had probably been doing a lot of thinking since then. He had a lot of time too. 

They opened chat, went to the main chat and scrolled up slightly. 

**Badboyhalo** blew up.

**Tommyinnit** : Wtf? That's the second time in an hour he's died  
**Tommyinnit** : well Thirty minutes  
**Tommyinnit** : still 

**Nihachu** : It is strange.

They opened up the messages from tubbo. 

_**Tubbo** : Eret? It's been over an hour where are you?  
Eret?  
Eret, please respond.  
Eret it's been two hours.  
Et? Please respond, did something happen?  
Eret I'm about ready to go and track you and ghostbur down.  
Eret it's been hours, are you okay?  
I hope you're okay._

They stared at the messages. It had been so long since tubbo had called them Et. It was a speaking mistake at first but became a nickname that only Tubbo called them. Everyone else in the revolution found it amusing and let Tubbo be. He never called them Et again after the room. They typed out a response. 

_**The_Eret** : Hey, some shit happened. I can't explain it over comms. I'll explain when I get back. If nothing else goes wrong, I'll actually be back within an hour this time. Ghostbur too. And, maybe Sam, but I think he's going to get Niki first. We have a lot to talk about._

They looked at the notifications for the messages they hadn't checked from earlier. They were from Sapnap, George, Niki, and Karl. 

They tapped Niki's. 

__**Nihachu** : Eret, what did you just do?  
What's going on?  
Are you okay?? 

They responded with a quick message.

_**The_Eret** : Sam's heading over soon. He'll explain what he knows. And, yes I'm fine._

They switched to Sapnaps which was pretty much what Niki had said as well. Karls was a bit different and asked where they were. George's message was just a dot. They didn't understand why.

With that they closed chat and focused ahead of them. They were silent until they reached the path that split off towards the L'manburg. 

They turned on to the path and said, "I heard Skeppy in my mind earlier. It was surprising. He told me he didn't have a choice in what he was doing. He also told me that he had just enough control to refrain from Killing us both and to let us escape. And, that it would take the last bit of his mental strength. I'm pretty sure he has some sort of Telekinesis type powers." 

"That's good to know." Sam said in response. 

"And, about the stunt you tried to pull earlier. I thought I said no sacrificing yourself for me." Eret said, looking over the abyss they were walking up to. Down to? They were going down stairs, but heading towards something. It was both. 

They looked at Sam in time to see him shrug and say "I didn't see any other choice. I'd rather one of us get out of there instead of us both going back to the cell." 

They arrived at where the ritual originally took place. They relaxed as they saw the items they left behind still there. They looked out in the trees and looked for anyone watching them. As far as they could see no one was. Wilbur floated over to where the items were and ghosted his hand over it. 

"So, do you want me over to the side or…" Sam trailed off. 

"Yes, stand to the side." Eret said looking towards Sam. Sam walked a fair bit away and just watched them.

They walked up to where Wilbur was waiting and pulled out the book. "Okay the book says that you should sit down on the ground. Since, you can't pick up the totem to just place it right where you're sitting." 

Eret bent down and pulled the totem out of their inventory and placed on the ground. They popped right back up and Wilbur sat down. They used their feet to nudge the stuff closer to Wilbur. 

"Okay, so I know the book said. We don't have to kill me in the same way that I died if we have the totem, but I think it would be a safer bet if we still did. So, go a bit away. Don't want you to blow up." Wilbur said, waving his hand vaguely to the distance.

"Okay, you get the TNT set up. Remember the cue to light it is after, cross from the plain of. I'll also give you a thumbs up." With that Eret walked several meters away. 

When Wilbur had the TNT set up and the flint and steel in his hand, Eret took a deep breath. If this didn't work, they didn't know what would. 

"Find the soul whose life was not over, whose debts were not paid, whose promises were not kept. Find the soul whose life is not over, for they still have many things to complete. Let them cross from the plain of," Eret gave Wilbur the signal, and they heard the TNT being ignited. Aether, they hoped this worked, "which they wander aimlessly and back into the world of the living." 

The TNT went off and the Ghost disappeared from sight. 

The dust cleared and Wilbur still was not there. But, this had happened last time as well. They just waited, while Sam said in a panicked voice, "Eret. Was that supposed to happen?" 

"Yeah, give it around 30 seconds or so. I'd shield your eyes around then or when the light shows up." Eret advised. 

It was about a minute later and the light that was there earlier finally showed up. Just like before it progressively got brighter except slower than before. Eret took that as a good sign. They shielded their eyes with their hand as it began to get too bright. Sam did the same. All of a sudden the light expanded outwards and went out like an explosion with a loud bang as well. At the same time their comms buzzed, but they barely noticed.

An after image burned in their eyes and their ears rang. Where the ghost of Wilbur had been sitting, was a humanoid figure crumpled on the ground. They scrambled over to see if it had worked. It looked like it had. 

They crouched next to the body, yeah it was definitely Wilbur. It had worked. They ran a hand through their hair and said, "Holy shit, it worked." 

"I don't think I ever met Wilbur while he was Alive." Sam said, peering at him. 

Wilbur was dressed like a mix of Ghostbur and Wilbur. He was wearing his boots, trench coat, and beanie but was also wearing Ghostburs yellow sweater and blue jeans. 

He had scars from explosions on both his hands, and his neck from when he died. There were probably more scattered across his body, but that wasn't their business.

Wilbur looked like he was asleep and very much alive. He was breathing, but unresponsive when they poked his shoulder. They were unsure what to do now. They took out the book and scanned the pages. There was no information about what to do after you resurrected the person. Only the resurrection bit. 

Suddenly, Wilbur shot up coughing. Both Eret and Sam leaned back in surprise. 

Once Wilbur stopped coughing, he looked at Eret with his now brown eyes and said, "Hello there. Don't die, it's not fun." 

They all started laughing and Eret helped Wilbur stand up. Sam bid them a goodbye and started walking the opposite direction of Snowchester. While they and Wilbur started walking towards Snowchester. There was a lot to talk about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of support I have gotten on this is insane. I'm really glad people like this story, as much as I like writing it for you guys. 
> 
> I also figured out how to check statistics (I somehow didn't before) and people are subscribed to this work. And, that is just shocking to me. 
> 
> Again, thank you for all the support on this. Remember to drink some water and have a nice day everyone!!


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